Butterflies
by The Gospel of Eleanor Rigby
Summary: It was the same routine every day. I'd follow Jared around like a little puppy and he'd pretend not to notice me. Or he really didn't notice me, I'm not sure which one's worse. But one day, just like when a butterfly flaps its wings, everything changed.
1. Prologue

**A/N: I know, I'm probably the last person in the world who should be starting a story. But I've been writing these chapters in between working on my other stuff, so I thought I'd post it anyways. About A Taste of Forever, I have a feeling that it's going to be put on hiatus for a little bit, until I get my act together. I'm so stuck on that story it's not even funny.**

**So I hope you enjoy this one. The first chapter is very raw, but the rest gets better I promise!**

**P.S: It's almost Christmas! I just finished my shopping and wrapping today!**

Jared Cameron and I had a routine. Or at least I did, and he was just in it. I would follow him around all day, staring at him like a lovesick puppy and he would pretend I didn't exist.

During lunch, when I sat alone at the back table, people would point at me and laugh because I was way out of my league. I would ignore them as I would doodle Jared's last name onto my first name in the pages of my journal.

In the hallways, I would constantly be harassed by Sierra Miller, Jared's current girlfriend of three months. Then I would wipe away my tears at the door of my favourite class, History.

I was actually failing that class miserably, only because Jared sat beside me. Obviously that's a huge distraction.

I would always arrive early, not wanting to miss a minute of this class. When Jared arrived, he immediately had everyone's attention. As usual, he would greet his friends and take his seat beside me. I got a glance and an eye roll before he turned around to strike up a conversation with Paul Lahote.

That routine stopped when Jared was absent from school for two weeks. When he arrived back, he wouldn't talk to anyone. He was bigger, meaner and angrier than ever. The only contact anyone had gotten during his absence was Sierra, only receiving a break up letter from Jared's mom.

Until history, my day continued as normal. Hang out with my friends, enjoy myself and try to forget about Jared. When I got to history, I sat in my seat nervously because I had heard that Jared was back.

He sat in the seat beside me, oblivious to my presence. And then he looked at me, as usual.

He did a double take.

And just like when a butterfly flaps its wings, everything changed.


	2. And Then, There was Kim

**A/N: This chapter is really rough, I actually wrote it a long time ago. It's pretty bad, but the chapters after this get better, because I actually have a feel for this story now. So I'm hoping you stick with it.**

My name is Kim Spencer. Kim means plain, boring, unoriginal and invisible.

Well not really. You wouldn't find that on the internet or anything. Kim actually means ruler, which makes me laugh. I'm actually the kind of girl that's faded into the background with her head shoved in a book, or the one who you've sat beside every year since the first grade but you still can't remember their name.

The girl who gets straight A's because she has absolutely no social life unlike her popular older brother. Whose only friend would rather spend lunch in the art room, forcing her to eat all alone in the back of an oddly overcrowded cafeteria.

Oh, let's not forget that the love of her life since the second grade doesn't know she exists.

Ah yes, I am an unashamed Jared Talley stalker. I know he has a younger sister named Paige who he raises because his dad is an alcoholic and his mother is a workaholic. His favourite fruit is an apple and he eats it first every day at lunch. He secretly plays the guitar when he thinks no one is around in the empty music room after school, he loves to take long walks in the rain and he sits out on his roof in the evening before dinner. He is definitely not a morning person and you will always find him carrying a pack of spearmint gum. He also looks best in the colour red.

I wasn't kidding. I am a Jared _stalker_.

"Kim?" Someone called. "Kimberly Spencer!" I glanced up in a daze to my math teacher Mrs. Johnson, who was staring at me.

"What?" I muttered. I still wasn't able to focus on anything but Jared.

_His eyes are a really light brown today._ "What's the answer to the question I just asked?" She snapped.

_Jared is super sexy._

Suddenly, the class erupted into a fit of laughter. I snapped my head and it dawned on me that they were laughing at me.

And that's when I realised. I had just announced that I thought Jared was sexy. Out loud, in front of the whole class, including his best friend and girlfriend. Lord, please help me. I was never going to live this down for the rest of my high school career. My face was hot and tears pricked my eyes as I looked at my desk.

Mrs. Johnson huffed. "May I please see your paper, Miss Spencer?" My face paled as I picked up my sheet. The only things that I had written on it were 'I love Jared' and 'Mrs. Kim Cameron.' I silently handed her the paper as I waited with a thudding heart. I'm surprised no one could hear it.

She narrowed her eyes and crumpled the paper loudly enough to make me cringe. She pointed to my seat and I obeyed silently. "Well Mrs. Cameron," She sneered and my eyes bulged. Was my teacher out to get me too!? "You can day dream all you want after school in detention."

"Okay." I muttered before slamming my head on the desk. My mom's words ran through my head.

_Stupid Kim, you're nothing but a failure._

_You're a worthless child. Why can't you be more like Jeff?_

_Pathetic little girl._

Tears splattered my fresh paper as I kept my eyes coasted downwards. I bit my lip to suck in the sobs threatening to be released. I knew everyone was still staring at me.

_Oh well,_ I thought bitterly. _Maybe Jared will notice me now_.

The bell rang and I ran as fast as I could out the door. Unfortunately, I crashed into someone in my haste and my books flew everywhere as I landed on the floor. For all I knew, that could have been a fucking brick wall. "Perfect, just great." I muttered. My knees were stinging as I gathered all my stray papers.

I may as well of had an aneurysm when I couldn't find my notebook. Until I heard someone cough loudly. I then realised that I was being shadowed.

Not just by anyone either. Jared Cameron was standing in front of me holding out my notebook. The same notebook that had his name and mine surrounded by hearts written all over it. I snatched it and clutched it hard to my chest, close to tears. I officially had three options at this point.

Option one: Get up and run out the exit screaming. Risk everyone laughing at you or falling and making yourself look like a bigger moron than you already are.

Option two: Sit here and look like an idiot until Jared leaves. Risk Jared avoiding me forever and getting trampled on.

Option three, the most rational: SAY SOMETHING IDIOT!

"Uh, t-thanks." I stuttered. Nice move Kim. That was _real_ smooth. He just nodded before getting up and swiftly walking away. I'm sure everyone around me noticed the weird girl on the floor checking out Jared's butt. I stumbled into the bathroom and locked myself into a stall before collapsing on the floor. I started to text my best friend.

After making her promise she wasn't going to leave me at lunch, which she won't because she had seemingly already heard about the incident, I let my traitor tears fall.

I silently prayed that things would get better. My head thumped against the wall repeatedly. This day could _not_ get any worse.

The warning bell buzzed as I got up. I noticed a wrinkled note stuffed at the top of my book that was obviously not mine. I opened it, smoothed it out and narrowed my eyes to read it.

_Having an obsession isn't healthy. Oh and could you stop daydreaming about me? My girlfriend doesn't like it._

_- Jared._

Ding, ding, ding, ladies and gentlemen! We have a winner. My jaw dropped to the floor. I wanted to absolutely kill myself. I sat back down, curling my knees to my chest and I sobbed hard. I hate my life, I hate myself. I hate Jared.

I quickly backtracked. That was a lie, a huge lie. I was angry at myself because I was stupid. I was nobody and I wasn't good enough for Jared. Everything is always my fault. Someone kill me now.

I eventually sobbed myself to the point of being sick. I felt terrible as my heart pounded almost out of my chest. Maybe I was having a heart attack? Hah, I should be so lucky. I stood shakily, gathering my books before I walked out of the stall slowly to get myself cleaned up.

I looked like the Loch Ness Monster. My eyes were puffy with smeared liner and I smelt of sweat and vomit. I ran a tired hand through my stringy hair and sighed before using my best attempt to fix myself up. After, I tugged down my plain white hoodie and flipped up the hood before walking to my locker. Unfortunately I didn't beat the bell and the hallway was littered with people. They were all staring at me of course, on full silent mode.

I hate everyone.

I threw all my books on the floor of my messy locker and slammed it hard. I closed my eyes and panted hard, wiping my clammy hands on my jeans. People were sniggering as I stalked past them into the strangely silent lunch room. I had everyone's attention.

The freak show of the day has arrived, take a fucking picture. I wanted to shout at them but I didn't have the courage to so I settled for slamming my head on the table in my arms. "What the fuck are you all staring at?!" Summer's voice echoed across the cafeteria. I smiled into my sleeve. I loved my best friend so much. Her chair squeaked beside me. "Brighten up, sunshine."

I looked up and she smiled, ruby red lipstick stretching across her face into a full blown grin that showed off her oddly white teeth, clashing with the colour. Summer Newman was eccentric, perky and loud. She's an artist and she always speaks her mind. Her hair was long and silky, like almost every person on the reservation except for mine. Her eyes were jaded, as she was half Japanese and they were an intense brown colour. She was tall with boobs and curves and she always wore something stylish.

She raked over my appearance and narrowed her eyes. "You were crying."

I frowned at the table and she sighed. "Kimmie-Cup, I love you dearly but you are an idiot. Either tell the boy how you feel or get over him."

"I think he knows how I feel." I muttered, sliding the note over to her.

Her eyes narrowed in slits and she slammed the crumpled paper on to the table. She stood up so fast that the chair fell over with a loud metal thud. "I will _murder_ the little bastard!" She screeched.

I grabbed her arm and tugged hard. "Sit down!" I hissed. She huffed but picked up her chair and sat back down. I silently wished everyone would stop staring as Summer cursed Jared to hell under her breath. We spent the rest of lunch discussing the pros and cons of Jared Cameron.

Then, the bell rang. It was time for history. I swallowed hard. "I'm ditching." And I bolted. But I was never much of a runner anyhow and Summer caught me easily.

She glared hard at me. "I'll carry you over my shoulder if I have to." I gave up and obeyed because she wasn't bluffing. She'd already done it once.

I trudged unhappily silent by her side to the classroom door. "Murder me." She blew me a kiss, gave a rude hand gesture and left. Slowly, I opened the door and froze. The classroom was full. I was late. Damn it!

"Miss Spencer, please join us." The old man teacher, Mr. P called. "You're late, take a seat." I looked straight at the wall as I walked the 'walk of shame' to my desk. And then I tripped. Oh perfect.

Plus, it was over Sierra Miller's foot. She smirked down at me. "Oh I'm so sorry." She mocked. "I didn't see you there. It's like you were invisible or something." Her pointy heel came down with a snap on my finger and I hissed. But I got my stuff gingerly and sat down without a word. I poked the already swelling finger and grimaced.

One, two, three. I counted in my head as Jared gave me the usual once over, turning around just as quick. I forced my attention upfront, fighting off more tears. This was easily the worst day of my life, hands down. Why does Kim Spencer always get the shit end of the stick? Why does life always hate her so much? Why did her dad have to die, and why doesn't her mom love her? I shook my head, squeezing the pencil in my hand so hard that it snapped. "Damn it!" I cried in half a whispered, frustrated. There was a tap on my left shoulder and I automatically shivered and stiffened. My heart lodged into my throat as I turned stiffly, unable to talk.

He was holding out a pencil with the tiniest smile ghosting about his lips. On his perfect, full lips. "Need one of these?" He asked, cool breath blowing in my direction across my face. I inhaled lightly. Ah, spearmint.

"Thanks." I murmured, handling the pencil like a fragile piece of glass. I mentally cheered at myself for not stuttering. This was officially my new favourite pencil which I will never use other than this class. It was my little piece of Jared to go. I nearly snorted at how infomercial that sounded. Like a Philadelphia cream cheese ad. I frowned as he turned back to chat with Paul, not noticing my curious stare. If he was angry with me, he didn't show it.

Of course, he probably already forgot about me. I am Kim Spencer, invisible girl.

History dragged on slowly while I silently undressed Jared out of the corner of my eye. I just wanted to brush back that shaggy hair. That is, if I could reach it. He had gone through a major growth spurt and while I was stuck at 5'2, he walked tall at 6'1. Luckily, the teacher was dumb enough not to notice that I wasn't paying attention to his ever so important lesson, so he says. I didn't need a repeat of math class.

"Okay class, tonight I expect…" Mr. P. droned on and on as I rolled Jared's pencil around in my hand. "Pack up your stuff and I'll see you tomorrow."

I sighed loudly in relief as I slammed everything in my binder. I reluctantly held out the pencil to Jared and he pushed it back, his hand grazing mine. "Keep it." He said lazily. I blinked and opened my mouth to protest but he shook his head. "It's just a pencil."

"Okay." I murmured as the bell rang. He left hand in hand with Sierra, not looking back at me. At least he talked to me today, even touched me! I haven't spoken to him this much since the third grade when the teachers didn't let us pick partners and we got paired up for a project in art class.

Art was the class that I had now. The only class I had with Summer, but Paul was also there. Why he took art was beyond me. He just sits around and throws paint at people's canvases when they aren't looking.

I took my seat beside Summer, clutching my pencil for dear life. "Are you on the watch for the pencil stealer?" She teased, elbowing my ribs.

"It's Jared's." I muttered embarrassed and she groaned.

"Kim, Kim, Kim." She shook her head. I frowned but continued twirling my pencil. The afternoon dragged on and as I was drifting off in Science, the bell rang.

"Oh thank the lord!" I shouted and raced to my locker. "I just want this day to be over."

And then my stinky math teacher ruined the day again.

She walked down the hallway in her tacky loafers, sequined cat sweater and cut off pants, glaring at me. "You have a one hour detention in my room, Kimberly."

I almost fell on my knees crying. I wanted to go home so bad! "Okay." I grumbled, dragging my stuff to the math room. A sophomore whose name I think was Jacob Black, sat in the back corner, grinning stupidly. Two girls who looked like they could beat me up with the flick of a finger and smelled of strong earwax sat front and center. Other than the teacher, the rest of the room was empty. I sat in the corner opposite of Jacob, poking my now bruised and demented looking finger. That's definitely broken.

Only 59 more minutes! I slammed my forehead against my palm and then closed my eyes. I wonder if my mom would notice. She doesn't notice anything, but Jeff might.

Five minutes later, the door opened. "You're late." The teacher chided, sounding very bored.

"Sorry." I froze. I knew that husky voice all too well. I peeked out of one eye and sure enough, Jared was making his way to the empty desk in front of me. I was leaning forward so much that my chair slipped from under my butt and I fell hard onto the floor. Of course, everyone laughed.

_Someone help me!_

I got a hold of the desk and pushed myself up gingerly. This day was just getting better and better. My finger was throbbing because I had landed on it funny so when I gripped the desk, I hissed in pain and fell back. "Damn!" I moaned. Someone crouched down beside me and I glanced up at Jacob Black with a grim expression.

"Hey, are you alright?" He grasped my hand. "Oh, that looks like it hurts." I bit back my snide comment and nodded. His lips pursed as he moved it around. Everyone else had lost interest in our little scene. "What did you do?"

I looked down, I was a terrible liar. "Uh, someone stepped on it." I muttered. "Accidentally though, um…" Wow, smooth.

He nodded slowly and helped me up into my seat. Then he walked away and I sighed. No one wants to talk to boring Kim. My hands covered my eyes until the chair beside me squeaked on the linoleum. Jacob was smiling at me.

"So you're in my lunch period right?"

"Yeah." I murmured.

"You always sit alone, or with that really loud girl, the artist?" He laughed. "I sit with my best friends. Embry is the tall one who never talks and Quil is the beefy one who talks too much." He sighed and then grinned so widely that I'm surprised his face didn't fall off. "Hey Kim, let's be lunch buddies!"

Something caught my attention. "You know my name?" I was shocked but he shrugged like it was no big deal. Then he stared at me with big puppy dog eyes that made my heart melt. "Fine," I rolled my eyes but smiled. "Lunch buddies." He tugged at his ponytail and smiled at me. The rest of detention was spent chatting randomly with Jacob and trying to ignore the fact that Jared was sitting so close in front of me that I could just reach out and touch him.

The clock struck four. "Dismissed." Mrs. Johnson ordered before leaving. No lecture or anything. I ran out of the class only to find that it was pouring. No surprise.

"I can't wait until I can drive." I whined, flipping up my hood.

"Kim!" Jacob called, running to me. "Where do you live?"

"Around the bend."

"That's on the way to my place, I'll walk you." Just like that, he was following me.

I had a feeling that even if I had protested, he wouldn't have left. Surprisingly, I was okay with that. Jacob was a good kid, even if he was a sophomore and it was nice to actually be noticed for once. Even if it took a good forty five minutes to get to my house, I had a blast.

We had to step in every puddle we saw, we twirled without hoods in the rain and just laughed together. I was drenched and the mud was splashed all up my converse and jeans. Jacob's hair was out of the ponytail and sticking to his face. He told me about his life and his friends and his dad, I told him about Jared and Summer. As I waved to him from my porch, I knew that Jacob Black was going to be more than just my lunch buddy.

He was going to be my best friend.

He had asked to come in, but I declined. I'd never had anyone in my house when my mother was home, not even Summer. I was embarrassed, afraid that my mother would treat me the same way in front of my friends as she did when we were behind closed doors. So I gave him a parting glance to make sure he was leaving before I opened my door and tiptoed in.

"_Kimberly Anne Spencer_!" I heard. Oh, boy.


	3. A Home Without the Heart

**A/N: Alright, thanks to everyone that reviewed! You guys make my day, all the time. Here's the second chapter already, be lucky I'm in the Christmas spirit. Or else I'd be too grumpy to write. :D**

**I beta myself, all mistakes will be my own. This is a long one too :)**

I hung my soaked coat up on the coat rack, tossed my shoes to the side in a neat order and brought my bag with me into the kitchen. My mother was OCD, a complete neat freak. I didn't like to disappoint her any more than I already had.

She was in there, a ripped envelope and unfolded piece of paper spread out in front of her. Lakota, my little sister who's four, was sitting in her booster seat next to her, colouring in a book. "Hi Mom, how was your day?"

She glanced up. "Sit down, Kimberly." I cringed. She was the only person in the world who called me by my full name. Kimberly… It's so retro and boring. She slid the paper over to me and I looked at it. It was my midterm report card. I had all high eighties with excellent skills. "You're failing history, Kimberly?"

My lips fell back into a frown. Crap. "Yeah… uh I forgot to tell you."

"You could do better, I know you can." She told me in a patronizing tone. I bit back my sarcastic remark. I'm sure you know, because you see me what? Two hours a day? And one and a half of those hours are spent criticizing everything that I do and putting me down. The other half, we're eating food. "I mean, your brother had all nineties!"

I felt my hot, frustrated tears fill my eyes. "Of course, it always comes down to him! I am not my brother. I don't get perfect grades without trying! And I'm not going to live up in my room studying! I have a life you know!"

She raised her eyebrows in disbelief. "Kimberly, you have one friend. And Summer is popular, something you're not, she goes out and has fun sometimes without you. Where does that leave you? At home alone, doing nothing. Your brother is out with his friends all the time, if anyone here should be an overachiever it should be you. Face it Kim, you're sort of a loser, aren't you?"

I was so used to hearing those comments that it shouldn't bother me, but it did. My heart stung, it felt like a chest cramp and I stopped myself from keeling over. The worst part would probably be that she didn't seem to think she said anything wrong. I wanted to kick, I wanted to scream and yell and tell her that I hated her and that I was a much better person than she was. I wanted to get angry, I wanted to defend myself.

But I'm Kim, so let's face it… We all knew it wasn't going to happen. So I just looked at the table and mumbled something that even I didn't understand. And then I apologized. "Sorry that I'm so disappointing. I have homework to do." So I grabbed my bag and ran up the stairs as fast as I could.

I took my anger out on the door, slamming it as hard as I could. I wish it would crack, or dent something, but my weak force just created a loud noise before it simmered down. I threw myself down on the bed, buried my face in the pillow and screamed in frustration.

I missed my father, my loving and kind father who treated all his kids like equals. I missed his goodnight kisses and late night hot chocolate. I missed our hiking trips and the way he couldn't stand chocolate ice cream. I loved the way he kissed my nose before we went to bed, the way he told me really stupid jokes when I was upset that weren't really funny but made me laugh anyway.

I loved the way he knew how to love, how he loved my mom. He made her happy and sweet, not like now. And I just loved him, love him actually. But fate had other plans for him…

He died in an animal attack. According to the police and photos, his body was savagely ripped apart and his blood was completely drained. His body was empty, his brain was lifeless. He was gone forever.

I looked a lot like my dad with his high cheekbones, wide nose and long fingers. The eyes and eyelashes I got from my mother, who was truly beautiful at one point. He and I had a special bond. He was always there for me. He praised me every day for no reason, told me that he loved me and that he was proud of me. We'd always connected by experience, he was the middle child of a family consisting of five children, and he knew what it was like to be ignored all the time.

He spoiled me to death, buying me things we couldn't really afford. He had dropped out of high school during his senior year, much of a scandal that was, and opened his own garage after he got a mechanical degree. It closed down after he died. The building was still there, rundown as always.

The feeling, the memory was still fresh in my mind, it hasn't even been a year yet.

I clutched my white pillow and kicked my feet in frustration. I could hear my sister coming up the stairs and I pulled the curtains around my bed. We shared a room because there was only three bedrooms in this house. They were all closet sized too.

After my dad died, my mom had to find work. She was a stay at home mother, because my sister had been so young. We lived on what my dad made, as little as that was and now that he was no longer supporting us, she had to get a job and help.

Emily Young watched my sister every other day while Jeff and I were at school and my mother was at work, until she started going to school every day next year. I'd pick her up if my mom was off work late or working a different shift. She was a librarian at the Public Library. I didn't like going there though. Emily was very beautiful… on the right side of her face. She was mauled by a bear, leaving thick scars on the left side of her body.

She got lucky.

"Kim?" Lakota asked in her innocent voice.

"What?" I snapped angrily, my voice scratchy.

She paused. "Are you sad?"

"I guess I am, yeah."

Uninvited, she pulled back the curtains and climbed onto my bed with me, curling up in my lap. I rested my chin atop her head and pulled her as close to me as I could get her. My tears silently dripped into her hair as her little arms went around my neck and she hugged me tight. "Emily says that there are two things that make everything better, hugs and cookies."

"Emily is a smart lady." I wiped my eyes on my sleeves and brushed Lakota's hair out of her face. She really was adorable with short dark brown hair that was perfectly curled around her tiny face. My whole family had inhabited curly hair, but the only person it looked tacky on was me. I swear, I'm cursed.

"I went to the park today." She told me, her blue eyes lighting up. "I played with Paige Cameron, Jared's sister. The one you're in love with?"

I blushed. "I'm not in love with him."

She looked confused. "Jeffy says that you are, to his friends when they come over. They laugh at you, I don't like it."

I shrugged. I always knew my older brother didn't like me. He graduated last year and now worked full time with a construction company. His girlfriend Callie was from Forks and she was taking a few college courses in Seattle but commuted back and forth a lot. She was nicer to me than he was. I might even go as far to say that we were becoming friends. I embarrassed him, his junior sister who had no friends and no social life.

Sometimes it bothered me, but I know that he's messed up a little. Dad's death took toll on him too, almost harder than me.

We were closer before our dad died, even if he did complain that Dad loved me more. He used to wave to me in the hallways. I think that my brother blames me for Dad's death.

Dad wanted me to go hiking with him but I had a lot of studying to do. I said no. I could see his disappointment but he said it was no big deal, that he'd go by himself and find us a nice spot for next time. He said he loved me anyway, I told him I loved him back.

Then I never saw him again. Somehow that was my fault, I'm not really sure how but Jeff seems to think it is. I know somewhere down inside him, he still loves me and I think he knows that too, because he seems to be afraid of showing feelings towards me, which is why I think he makes fun of me all the time. I could be wrong though.

"Just don't listen to what he says okay? He loves you, that's all that matters. Don't worry about our relationship."

She didn't understand what I meant, I could tell. She just looked at me and hopped off to play with her dolls. "Paige is coming over tomorrow!" She announced shortly after as I was enjoying the silence. "She's even going to stay for dinner!"

I opened the book I was reading for class, Jane Eyre, and pretended to be interested. "That's nice."

"And Jared's picking her up after."

"What?" I froze on the word I was reading. Dreadful, something that described the feeling that just coursed through my stomach. "Jared. Is coming here?"

She giggled and nodded. "I'm gonna tell Paige you love him!" Then she got up and ran off downstairs. I heard her yelling for the phone.

I scrambled off my bed, dropping my book and losing my page in my haste to chase after her. "Lakota, get back here! Don't you dare say anything!"

My mother's exasperated voice called me from the other room. "Kimberly, please don't shout or run in the house." She yelled at the exact point that Lakota ran past me with the phone in her hand, shouting "Nah nah!"

I screamed in frustration and ran back up the stairs as my mother shouted after me. Tears, angry tears splashed over my eyelids to my cheeks. I paced for a few short seconds before I grabbed up my cell and called Summer's number. "Hello?" She answered.

"Let's go out."

"Meet me at First Beach in ten?"

"Make it five." Then I hung up, threw on a sweater, grabbed a bag and went back downstairs. "I'm going out!" I threw on my rubber boots and ran out into the expected rain. I wished I were in a cartoon, because I'd probably have steam coming out of my ears and at least I'd get a good laugh out of it.

"Kim!" Someone called, and I heard someone running down the beach. It wasn't the person I expected and Jacob Black crushed me into a bear hug.

I blinked up at him from under my rain soaked eyelashes. "Jake?" I mumbled. "What are you doing here?"

He set me on my feet and swung his muscular arm over my shoulders, dragging my feet through the wet and heavy sand. I could vaguely make out two boys about twenty feet from us. "I'm just here with my boys. We were going to go cliff diving… But the weather turned out pretty crappy." I got shy, ducking my head towards the sand and rubbing my thumb across my forehead. "This is Quil Ateara and Embry Call."

I looked up. "Hi."

"Guys, this is Kimberly Spencer. I met her today in detention."

Quil grinned at me with one eyebrow raised. "So you go to QTS then? I've never seen you before, or heard of you."

Jacob looked down at me with worried eyes at the same time that I flinched. "Um, you were my science partner last year."

Awkward silence ensues. "Oh." He mumbled. "Sorry."

I brushed the dripping water off my face. "S'okay."

Quil looked guilty and Embry smiled at me sort of awkwardly and I waved back once. "So what brings you here, Kim?" Jake asked.

"Oh, I'm actually waiting for my friend. She was supposed to meet me here just now actually." I murmured, pulling out my cell phone to check the time. "I don't know where Summer is."

Both Embry and Jacob snickered. "Newman? Summer…Newman?" Quil asked, paling visibly. I nodded. "Oh no…" He moaned.

As if she was called, Summer emerged. "Kim!" She called from behind me. I watched her walk over, her hair in a long French braid covered by a white hat. She looked beautiful in the rain too. Quil was looking at the ground.

She obviously recognized the boys beside me because her eyes lit up. "Hey, I didn't know you knew the three amigos!" She stuck out her hand and high fived them all. "Jake, Embry…" Then I noticed her face start to darken. "Quil."

Then I got it. Summer liked Quil… And Quil liked Summer. I caught Jacob's eye and smiled. "Yeah I just met them today… Well, Quil was my partner in science last year." He gave me a weary look.

"Oh yeah! I remember you telling me how stupid he was." She laughed freely and nudged him with her arm. I looked at her with panicked, wide eyes. _I did not say that! _I mouthed to her.

But Quil just laughed. "I deserved that, I guess." He stuck his tongue out at Summer and she hit his arm.

"Hey Kim, Embry, I remember I saw something over there and I wanted to show you." Jacob said suddenly and very obviously, grabbing my arm and dragging me towards the cliffs. I looked back to see Embry following along, smirking. "Sheesh, they should get over themselves and go on a date."

I used the sleeves of my sweater to wipe under my eyes, where my non waterproof mascara was running. Embry and Jacob were in a conversation about something completely odd that I couldn't understand for the life of me, so I used that time to admire Jacob's muscles. He was, for lack of better words, gorgeous.

Come to think of it, all three of them were very good looking. Then I looked at Summer, her perfect figure and gorgeous face and I watched the way Quil smiled at her and subtly reached across and grabbed her hand and I realised that I would never have a boyfriend.

I was… not ugly per say, just normal. Painfully normal and boring. No guy like Jacob, Embry or Quil would ever like me and I'd be forever invisible. The sound of Embry hissing made me jump, as it were so seemingly out of character for him. "What a little bastard. It's about time the pussy made a move." I looked up to see Quil leading Summer behind the tree line by the hand.

Great, so much for hanging out with Summer. I sighed out loud. "Well, that was a bust for plans. I guess I should get back home before my mom…" I trailed off. "I'll see you guys later."

I walked away, feeling worse than before I'd gotten there before Jacob grabbed my arm. "Kim, wait!" He called. "You can stay and hang out with us if that's okay with you."

My heart stopped. "Sure." I said too quickly. We stayed out in the rain until it started to get dark.

"I really need to go home, Jake." Embry mentioned. "It's almost six, and my mom hates when I'm late for dinner." They did their weird man hug thing and I snickered. "Nice meeting you Kim." He touched his hand to mine and smiled before he turned around and jogged away.

"I have to go too." I told him almost sadly. "I'm probably already grounded. But I'll see you at lunch tomorrow."

"Let me walk you, it's getting dark."

I laughed. "It's La Push, Jacob. I don't think anything's going to happen to me."

He blinked, almost as if he were embarrassed. "Right…Well yeah, tomorrow. Sure, sure." He hugged me, his signature bear hug. "Goodnight Kim."

I waved, almost skipping away and feeling a thousand times better about myself. If Jacob wanted to be my friend, I couldn't be that bad right? I walked home feeling amazing.

"Oh Kim, where have you been? I didn't even realise you were gone." That's what my mother's greeting was when I got in the door.

"I went out with Summer." I mumbled.

She sipped her coffee and nodded as if she cared. "Well, get cleaned up for dinner. Six thirty as always."

Suddenly, I felt ugly again.

I sat at my laptop twenty minutes later, showered and warm, tapping my fingers on the keys. You can do this Kim, don't be chicken. So I typed it in.

How To: Raise Your Self- Esteem.

Step One: Stop comparing yourself with other people.

Step Two: Stop putting yourself down.

Step Three: Accept all compliments with "thank you."

Step Four: Use affirmations to raise your self-esteem.

Step Five: Take advantage of workshops, books and cassette tape programs on self-esteem.

Step Six: Associate yourself with positive, supportive people.

Step Seven: Make a list of your past success

Step Eight: Make a list of your positive qualities

Step Nine: Start giving more

Step Ten: Get involved in work and activities you love

Step Eleven: Be true to yourself

And Step Twelve: Take action.

So I learned that I needed to stop comparing myself to Summer, Sierra and almost every other girl I've encountered at QTS, stop calling myself ugly and normal, say thank you if someone ever compliments me, be affirmative with myself, read books about self-esteem, try to think about any time that I've succeeded in anything, try to think of positive qualities, give, pretend to be interested in something and then join it, be myself and take action.

I could do those if I really, really tried. But there was one I had a problem with.

Associate yourself with positive, supportive people. See, that wouldn't be too hard. Summer and Jacob are supportive, Quil and Embry seem like they'd be alright to be around.

I'm fine with hanging out with them; it's the unsupportive people I have a problem with. I can't really get rid of my mom, or my brother… Or Jared.

But I could try, right?

I'm going to get over Jared. I swear to God. On a whim, I grabbed the notebook from school off my bed, took out all the pages with his name on it and tore them up until they were itty bitty pieces in my trashcan.

And I felt so much better. This may be easier than I thought.

"Kimberly, dinner!"

"Coming!" I called back with a smile on my face. That same smile was there when I went to bed too.

* * *

Getting over Jared was surprisingly easy. One thing that helped was that he wasn't at school for two whole weeks.

Paige did come over for dinner, but Jared never ended up picking her up. My mom had to drive her home an hour after he was supposed to be there. She came back and told me that his mother hadn't seen him all day.

I hung out with Jacob and Embry that same day, seeing as Summer was busy. Apparently she and Quil were on a date.

Sunday she came over and she told me that he had kissed her. They were officially boyfriend and girlfriend. So we spent the whole day listening to cool music, eating ice cream and I listened to her ramble on about how great Quil was.

Monday was back to school and to my surprise, Jared was not present. I wanted to ask Paul where he was but I was trying to get over him. True to their word, the amigos sat with me at lunch. Quil was off in lala land, he barely opened his big mouth to talk all lunch period. Embry didn't really talk anyway, so I just chatted with Jacob and secretly admired his gorgeous smile.

In history, I actually managed to do my work that day and the teacher was so impressed that he gave me extra credit for getting it done. I was officially passing that class.

Tuesday was a lot more interesting. Sierra was walking around furiously and anyone that even looked at her got snapped at. I was amused, but afraid to ask. Embry told me the story at lunchtime.

Apparently, Sierra had gone to see Jared the night before. His mother said he wasn't home, but gave her a letter addressed to her and told her not to open it until she got home.

It was a break up letter from Jared.

I had never laughed so hard in my life. I think they thought I was going crazy. Then I sobered up when I realised I was supposed to be over Jared.

The rest of the week flew by, I was becoming closer to these boys than I'd ever thought possible. And Jake seemed to get prettier every time I saw him.

Suddenly, the weekend was gone and so was the week after that and the weekend after that. All too soon, it was Monday.

"I hate Mondays." I complained as I sat down for breakfast. Pancakes, yum. "Every week should start on a Tuesday."

My smart aleck brother slid me the syrup from across the table. "Wouldn't you just hate Tuesdays then?" He smiled at me, not a smirk or a sneer, but a real smile.

"Someone's in a good mood." I commented.

He paused, looked at my mom and looked back at me. "I'm driving you to school today. Tell Summer, we need to talk."

I sat in his car twenty minutes later, fidgeting awkwardly in the passenger's seat. "So what's up?" I asked him.

He pulled something out of his pocket, momentarily distracted from his driving. He placed the mysterious object into the palm of my hand and I fingered the cold metal. "Is that…" I opened my palm to reveal a small, simple but stunningly beautiful diamond ring. "Oh my goodness."

"I'm going to ask Callie to marry me tonight." He told me with his blue eyes wide and shining.

Callie, all 5'6, red haired and blue eyed was the complete opposite of my brother, but she was perfect for him. And now, apparently, they were going to get married. "Wow." I breathed. "Congratulations."

"I hope she says yes.

"She will." I assured him as we pulled into the school parking lot. Summer and Quil were standing by the front entrance with their hands interlocked, heads closed together and deep in conversation. Jacob and Embry were headed towards them but Jake spotted me and detoured around to where I was getting out of the car with Jeff.

I waved at him and turned to my brother and spontaneously threw my arms around his waist in a tight hug. He patted my back awkwardly, but didn't try to push me away. I think he needed the reassurance. "Everything will work out."

"Thanks." He looked me in the eye and nodded before getting back into his car.

Jacob was beside me in a second, arm around me as usual. "I thought your brother hated you."

I laughed. "He does, sort of. But there are some things that a brother and sister just bond over, you know." I looked down at my fist and gasp. "Shit!" I still had his ring. Crap, I was always losing things. What was I going to do? I looked where he had disappeared to and saw no one. "Oh no… Jacob, how good are you at making sure important things stay in a safe place?"

I held out the ring and his eyes widened. "Kim… Are you getting married?" He looked horrified, a bit sad and angry.

"No! Oh God, no! It's my brother's. I forgot to give it back to him!"

He laughed nervously. "Oh. Well… Why don't you just wear it around your finger? It looks your size, does it not?"

"But…"

He touched the top of my head and smiled. "I'll defend you if anyone says anything. You trust me right?"

"Of course."

He smiled at me, took the ring and slid it onto my left hand. Despite myself, I looked away with a blush and caught eyes with Summer who had her eyes popped out of her head. Quil was beside her, looking like she did. Embry shook his head at me and pursed his lips as if he were confused about something. "M'lady." Jacob snickered, kissing my hand.

I pulled away my tingling hand and smacked him lightly. "You are such an ignoramus."

"Oh such big words hurt me deeply." He placed a hand over his heart and used the other one to grab mine and pull me along. I shoved my left hand into my pocket and didn't look anybody in the eye as Jacob and I walked to my locker as usual.

"Don't you ever have to get anything from your locker?" I asked him as he reached up to help me grab the stuff on the top shelf that I couldn't reach and passing them to me.

He wrapped an arm around my waist, something he always did. It didn't matter if we were walking to class, at the beach, at his house or just standing around, we always had body contact. I think he was so used to protecting me at school from everyone who liked to pick on me that it had become a habit. "I usually go to my locker after I walk you to class. It's like three feet away, convenient right?"

I rolled my eyes. "Oh totally, seeing as if our school is like the length of two hallways. Or the shape of a square…"

He gave me a half side hug as we stopped in front of the door to my class. "I'll see you after class."

Of course. I sat down in my seat quietly, tucking my left hand under my knee. The girl who sat beside me, Brittany, tapped me on the shoulder. She smiled at me, white teeth glinting in the light of the room. "Hey, are you going out with Jacob Black?"

I laughed, accidentally bringing my hand up to wave off the accusation. "No, we're just friends."

She grabbed my hand. "Is that an engagement ring?" Her mouth fell open. "Just friends, sure." Then she pulled out her phone and started texting a mile a minute. _No!_

By the time class ended, everyone was staring at me. I couldn't have gotten out of that class faster, I actually went out about a minute early. I paced, deciding to walk towards Jacob's class instead of waiting for him. I got there just as the bell rang and he came barrelling out. "Kim!" He exclaimed.

"Everyone thinks we're engaged!" I moaned.

He laughed. "I know."

"Doesn't that bother you?"

His face went sober and he looked me in the eyes. "Kim, you said you trusted me. I promised that I'd defend you. And I will, so just trust me okay?"

I sighed. "Alright…" Just then, a sophomore that I didn't really recognize passed us just as Jacob decided he was going to brush a stray lock of curly hair that had flown out of my ponytail behind my ear.

"Jake, my man!" He shouted, high fiving him. "Is this the girl you're hitting?" He looked at my chest and I self-consciously zipped up my sweater. Jacob sniggered.

I tapped my index finger against my textbook, waiting for him to defend me like he promised. All he did was wink and say, "I don't kiss and tell."

The guy nodded and grinned at me before he walked away. I sat there in shock, mouth open. "You promised!" I cried, turning on my heel to storm away to my locker.

"Hey, wait up!" Jake shouted, jogging after me. "Aw Kim, come on! I was only kidding, don't be so sensitive." My eyes were filling up with angry tears and I shot an angry glance at him before I got my books and ignored him. "Kimberly Anne Spencer, don't you ignore me!" He told me in a mock authorized tone.

I walked away in a huff. "Leave me alone, Jake." And I entered through my classroom door.

He texted me all the way until lunch and I had twenty text messages in total before I arrived in the cafeteria. I was late because my teacher had held my class a little bit late so we could finish up a presentation, so the musketeers were already seated when I got there. I skipped my usual seat beside Jake in favour for the one in between Quil and Embry.

He groaned. "Kim, I'm sorry!" I ignored him. A chorus of oohs could be heard from the obnoxious boys beside me. "What if I make it up to you?"

I was interested. "How so?"

"What if we do something tonight?" He didn't even need to think, but I think my heart just stopped. "We'll go to dinner in Forks, just the two of us." And as an afterthought he added, "And I won't joke around like that. I'll tell the truth. So what do you say?"

I forgot to breathe, I'm sure of it. I was started to get light headed. "Kim?" He panicked, a look of rejection washing over his face.

"I think she stopped breathing." Quil added his unnecessary comment from beside me, snapping his fingers in my face.

Embry slapped his hand. "Dude, that's obviously not helping." Thank you, Embry. He was always the sensible one. "Kim, breathe. Breathe in through the nose, out through the mouth."

I let out a whopping gasp of air and panted. "O-okay." I stuttered, reverting back to shy, I-don't-know-you Kim.

"Great!" Jake exclaimed, standing up and dragging me over to my usual spot. "So I'll pick you up at six thirty? I'll drive."

"Do you even have your license?"

He laughed. "Maybe I do, maybe I don't. But the Chief of Police is a good friend of my dad's, so I don't think I'll get into any trouble."

I sighed. "If you say so."

"Kim!" Summer was screaming from across the cafeteria. All eyes shot to her and Quil's head shot up from the sandwich he was eating, spraying mustard on my arm._ Ew_. She was tripping over her leather boots in her haste to get to me, one chopstick falling out of the bun atop her head. "Sorry boys, I need to borrow her. Now."

So she pulled me away with her hand tucked under my elbow and out the doors at the back of the room. "What's up? Why are you so worked up?"

"Jared's back. And he's huge, angry and hotter than ever!" She exclaimed.

"What?" I asked in pure disbelief.

_Jared was back already?_


	4. Torn at the Seams

**A/N: Sorry, this was a little bit later than I expected. But it's out before midnight! Besides, it's Friday and almost the weekend, so who cares how late it is? Well, I sure don't. But some people probably have to work tomorrow. **

**Enjoy this, it's nice and long. A little Jared/Kim and a lot of Jake/Kim! I know some people out there like this pairing so far! I beta myself so all mistakes are my own.**

"Please don't make me go in there!" I cried, latching on to Jacob's arm. He was the only one on my side, only because I let a few tears leak.

He sighed and wrapped his big arms around me. "Guys, it's only one class. She's obviously not ready and it's not a big deal to skip just one class. She'll go tomorrow, won't you Kim?"

"No."

Summer sighed. "Kimbo, I thought you were over him!"

"I was!" I cried, not bothering to cringe at the disgusting nickname she used. "When he wasn't here! And now I have to look at him and maybe even talk to him. He sits beside me for Christ sake!"

Quil poked his head in the room. "I don't see him. The seat beside yours is empty. Maybe he won't even come to class. He and Paul are the biggest skippers in school. Maybe you'll get lucky." Hah, in Kim's world, there's no such thing as good luck.

Embry was there too, standing silently in the background as usual. They were my support team, giving me…support. "How about, you go and I'll meet you outside when class is over?" Jake tried to bargain.

"You always meet me outside of class." I accused, folding my arms across my chest.

"I'll cancel our plans tonight." My tapping foot stopped moving automatically. "So you're going to go to class, right?"

I sighed. "Okay!" I cried. "I'll go to class. You win." A few unnecessarily loud hoots were heard before Quil and Summer headed off towards her class, swinging their interlocked hands as they stormed down the hallway. Embry smiled silently at me as he waited for Jacob.

And Jake surprised me. He leant down with his eyes closed and pressed his lips to my forehead, right where the hairline starts. My heart stopped beating and I was afraid my respiratory system was in serious danger today. "See you soon." He promised as my heart began to flutter again.

I tumbled over my foot and into my history class. "Good afternoon, Miss Spencer." The teacher greeted me pleasantly. Well great, so much for making a break for it when no one was looking. So I sat down in my seat, resigned and quiet.

Everyone was still staring at me, and the ring on my finger felt like it weighed three thousand pounds and had a huge sign that read, _'Look at Me!_' I tried to ignore them and doodled in my notebook.

The bell rang three minutes later. No Jared. I was extremely relieved, but somehow seriously disappointed at the same time.

Ten minutes later, we were in a class discussion about some old guy who founded something or other. I wasn't really paying attention, doodling in my notebook and staring at the clock, waiting for it to change. The door opened and in walked a new student.

Someone I'd never seen before. He turned towards the teacher.

Jared.

I could tell, his eyes were the same shade of blue and the scar across his left eye was still there, only more prominent. All of his shaggy black hair was shaved close to his skull in a buzz cut. His features were sharper, he towered over everyone by a good foot and he had abs. Huge abs, that you could see so very clearly through the thin, tight white t-shirt that he was wearing. His shoulders were bulging, he looked like he was going to turn into the Hulk and tear the poor shirt apart.

Then my heart picked up double speed when the teacher stopped lecturing him about his lateness and he headed over to his seat. The one that was right next to me. My hands curled into fists and I looked away at my paper, picking up my pen and tapping it in an offbeat rhythm on the desk.

He sat down and my nervous shivers started to melt away with the heat that he brought with him. It felt like I was standing next to a roaring fire. My anxious pen tapping continued without pause.

Can you say elephant in the room?

"Excuse me," He said suddenly with a sharp edge in his voice. "If you are going to tap excessively like that, can you please get a sense of rhythm first?"

I dropped my pen. "Sorry." I lifted my eyes, daring myself to look up at him.

His was narrowing his eyes at the blank paper in front of him and just like if he could sense I was looking at him, he peered at me out of the corner of his eyes.

His jaw dropped.

I blushed and looked away at my own paper, scooting as far as I could get on my stool and almost falling off. A hot hand grabbed my elbow just as I tipped over.

I didn't look at him as I righted myself and I didn't say thank you either. I sat stiff as a board for the rest of the class, trying to shake the feeling that he was watching me. I didn't succeed, because his eyes never strayed from my face.

The bell rang and I stood up so fast, my stool fell over. I didn't bother to pick it up, preferring to grab all my books and half run out of the classroom. "Hey wait up!" He called, I could hear him chasing after me.

Unfortunately, he was a lot faster than me. So having no choice and not wanting to be rude, I stopped. "Can I help you?"

He looked down at me with such admiration that I thought he was going to confess the love that he'd held for me all these years. I thought he was going to tell me that I was the only girl for him and we could ride off into the sunset together. Instead he said, "I want to know your name. Are you new? I've never seen you around before."

That caught me off guard. I felt like I was going to throw up. "I'm not new…" I mumbled. "I-I've sat next to you in almost every class since kindergarten. You were my partner for an art project in the third grade. Two weeks ago, you ran into me in the hallway and help me collect my books. I sit next to you in history every day and we did a paper together at the beginning of the year." I started rambling, I couldn't stop. "I live four blocks away from you, my sister is your sister's best friend and I've been in love with you since I was seven years old and you don't even know my _name_?"

"What?" He whispered, looking like I had just killed his dog in front of him. "You're in love with me?"

I blinked, realising my mistake. "I _was_ in love with you." Then I started to walk away again. He grabbed my hand, the left one and dropped it like a hot potato.

"You're getting married?!" He exclaimed, voice rising. People stopped to watch, he was making a scene.

I panicked. "No! Jared!"

"Who is it? Who are you marrying? I'll kill him!" People started whispering Jacob's name around to each other. I heard them, but I was hoping Jared hadn't. His eyes sparked with an odd recognition and he narrowed his eyes. "Where is he? Where's Jacob Black?"

They pointed to my locker, where he waited for me to walk me to art class every day. He started to walk over to him. What is he doing? Jake looked at him from where he was standing and seemed to notice who it was. They both looked furious. I followed after him, hurrying along and hoping I could stop a fight from breaking out.

"Is this creep bothering you, Kim?" Jake asked, glancing at Jared.

But Jared just pushed him, hard by the looks of it because he flew backwards. "Who do you think you are?" Jared roared. "She's mine! Kim belongs to me!"

"She doesn't belong to anyone! She's not a damn possession, you freak!" Jake yelled right back, raising his fist and hitting Jared right in the face. Oh no. That just got Jared angrier and he went forward, looking like he was going to rip one of Jake's limbs off.

I ran between them. "Stop!" I screamed. "Stop it!" My hands went on Jared's forearms and he stopped moving and his body which seemed to be shaking was abnormally still. "Are you insane?!" I cried, grabbing onto Jake's wrist and pulling him back with me. "You're messed up. You-you stay away from me."

Jacob looked seriously angry. "Are you alright?" I murmured, reaching up to touch his face. He grabbed my wrist, flung me around onto the lockers and kissed me slowly.

"Sorry." He gasped when he was done, out of breath. I was in shock. "I wanted to wait until tonight to do that, but after that…" He grimaced. "You don't belong to him and I'm not saying that you belong to me either… you're not a possession. But I was afraid that would be me if I waited too long. And I didn't want it to be."

"Jake…" I breathed, throwing my other arm around his neck and kissing him again.

"Well, hot damn!" Quil yelled from down the hallway. "I always miss everything!" There was an echoing slap. "Ow, baby! Don't hit me like that!"

I snickered. "I'm going to be late for class." I mentioned, noticing that the hallways were pretty much empty. "Summer! Let's go!"

She suddenly linked her arm with mine. "We have a lot to talk about. Bye lover boy!" She called to Jake. "Quil, you should take romance lessons from him."

"Why do you always make me look bad, Jake?" We heard Quil whine as we walked around the corner and we both laughed.

"So, details!" She squealed as we sat down at our easels. I told her the whole story and she ooh'ed and aww'd in all the right places. After we got our assignments, I got lost in my work. I wasn't as good as Summer, but art was something I liked to believe I was okay at. "Kim, your painting looks amazing!" She gushed.

I looked up at it, almost shocked. We were drawing self-portraits of ourselves this week, starting today. I was afraid when she told us, feeling so plain and insignificant that I wanted to skip the whole project. But today I felt…beautiful. And it reflected in my work. "I'm out of green." I mumbled, embarrassed and extremely modest. I got up to get it as Summer laughed and turned around to talk to the girl beside her.

I poured the green, a little bit excited to get back to my painting and finish it. I wanted to show it to Jacob, show him how he makes me feel. I hoped he'd be proud of me. Maybe he'd kiss me again…

I grinned and half skipped back to my easel, settling down into my stool and swirling my brush in the paint, lifting it to make another stroke.

I dropped it, along with my paint tray. The whole canvas was covered in red and blue blobs. I felt tears fill my eyes, my stomach was knotting up. My painting was ruined.

"Oh Kim, I'm so sorry! I wasn't even paying attention!" Summer cried, as if it were her fault. I turned my head and looked at Paul, who was sniggering away two seats behind me.

Mrs. Long came over to me with a frown on her face. "Oh Kim, I'm sorry, I guess someone accidentally got paint on your beautiful canvas. I'm afraid there's nothing I can do, and that you're going to have to start over. I'll get you another paper."

All period, I tried to recreate what I had going. But I was no longer happy. I was frustrated, angry and ridiculed. The bell rang and I grabbed my stuff. "Where are you going!?" Summer called, her stuff falling as she tried to pack it as fast as I had.

Paul had really long legs, so he was walking faster than I could. I had to jog to even follow along. "Paul!" I called. He either didn't hear me or was ignoring me. "Paul!" I grabbed his arm.

"Woah!" He cried, flinging me off. "Oh, it's you. What?" Standing there face to face- or face to chest apparently- with him, he was a lot more intimidating. He wasn't laughing anymore, his face was so serious. And was it just me, or did he grow lately? He was catching up to Jared. "Well?" He probed.

"Uh…" I stuttered, blushing. "I just- uh, wanted to talk to you about my painting." He blinked once, not giving anything away in his face. "Why did you ruin it?"

"Look Kylie, I don't know what you're talking about."

"It's Kim."

"What?" He said, looking distracted.

I paused. "My name is… Never mind. Listen, I know you did it."

He laughed loudly. "You're such a liar, Karen. Now can I go?"

"It's Kim!" I cried. "And no you can't! I know you did it Paul, I've seen you ruin other people's paintings as well!"

"What, so now you're stalking me too?" He growled. "Jared wasn't enough? Once again, I. Don't. Know. What. You're. Talking. About." His hands twitched, so much like Jared's had before class. I backed up, realising I should have just forgotten about it. I went to walk away when he grabbed my wrist. Hard. "Oh no, we're not done here."

"Let go of my wrist!" I cried, feeling the pain searing up.

He pulled me towards him, leaning down so I was eye to eye with him. "You wanted to talk, so let's talk. Now say what you want to say."

"I-I…" I stuttered.

"Say it!" He roared in my face.

My wrist was going to fall off. I couldn't feel any circulation in my hand and I had tears of pain spilling over my face. Paul looked like a tree in a tornado, quivering and shaking like an earthquake. Then suddenly Jared was there, pushing Paul up against the locker, hand closed around his throat. He dropped my wrist and I cradled it. "Do not touch her!" Jared yelled.

"Get off of me, moron!" Paul exclaimed, shaking and thrashing. That seemed to alert Jared and he pulled him outside by the collar. The door slammed and they were both gone. My legs gave out and I fell to the ground in shock.

"Holy fuck!" Summer swore, racing over to me. "I was like, is that girl suicidal?! You don't get in Paul's face! What on Earth was so important that you felt the need to confront the most violate person in the world?" She got down to the ground with me, taking my wrist.

I squealed in pain. "He ruined my painting." I whispered.

She shook her head and gave a half laugh. "You're insane."

She prodded a sore spot on my wrist and I screamed, yanking it away from her. "Jesus!"

"What did he do to her!?" I heard Jacob yelling to random people standing around. "What happened? Kim!" He cried as he spotted me, helping me off the ground. "Did he do this?"

There was definitely something wrong with it, I could tell that easily by the way it was hanging out of the socket, just dangling there. There were purple bruises forming already. "I think I need a nurse."

"You need to go to a hospital." He murmured. "I'll take you up. Hey Quil, go to my house after school if I'm not back and tell my dad where I am okay? There's only one more period anyway." He smiled down at me. "Come on honey, let's go."

He led me out to an old green truck in the parking lot. "You drove to school today?" I laughed. "You don't have your license, do you?"

He shrugged. "Someone has to get my dad around places. I'm almost sixteen anyway, no biggie. It's a good thing I drove too, never thought I was going to need to drive my girlfriend to the hospital." He stopped talking abruptly.

"Well, your girlfriend didn't expect to have to be driven to the hospital either." I commented as nonchalantly as I could manage.

He looked at me and winked. "Aren't you just clever?"

"And you, Jacob Black, are very smooth."

"Well, I try." He laughed a little bit, buckling his seatbelt and turning the keys in the ignition. "All we need to do is find Embry a lady friend now. Know anybody who might be interested?" I looked at the glove box and he coughed. "Sorry, I uh-"

"It's fine." I murmured. "Who needs anybody else when I have Summer, Embry, Quil and you, right?"

He reached across to grab my hand firmly in his. "You really are amazing, Kim." He smiled at me. "I don't know why so many people are blind about it."

"Maybe you're just a bit biased." I commented, blushing. "Now eyes on the road, Romeo, and keep the smooth talk to yourself."

He shook his head and chuckled to himself, releasing my hand and putting his back on the wheel.

"Dr. Snow?" I asked, ten minutes later, in the lobby of the hospital. "Is Dr. Cullen in today?"

She looked up grimly. "Um, no. He's not going to be in today. But if you just wait over in the waiting room, I'll have another doctor be with you as soon as possible." Then she walked away with her little clipboard chart, shaking her head.

"Well damn," Jacob whispered as he led me over to a seat. "If I had known that, I would have called Charlie to see where he was."

I shrugged. "It's probably for the best. My mom hates that Dr. Cullen's my doctor, because of those stupid legends on the Rez. I mean, he's an amazing doctor and surgeon, shouldn't she be grateful or something?"

He grabbed my good hand and started thumb wrestling me. "Parents are weird."

We waited for two hours. Two fricken hours. People were running around and shouting, yet no one bothered to pay attention to me, the mousy girl in the chair with the dangling wrist!

"Kimberly?" Dr. Gerandy called my name as he walked in. "Would you mind coming back tomorrow? We're really busy now because Doctor Cullen has left." I held up my wrist. "Oh. Well come with me then."

Jacob stood with me. "What a creep." He murmured, eyeing him up and down. "I think I like Cullen better."

"Same."

"Hey Jake?" I wondered out loud. "What time is it?" We were back in the truck, cruising down the road that led to La Push. My wrist was placed right again and wrapped up nice and tight.

He looked at his little clock on the car radio. I tried to squint at it, but I had forgotten my glasses in my locker, so I couldn't see anything but a blur of red. "It's about quarter after five."

"Five?!" I exclaimed. "Shit!" I pulled my phone out of the back pocket out of my jeans and checked it. It was on silent and I had sixteen missed calls, seven text messages and four voicemails.

_Kim! I heard about what happened at school, so call me when you get this message okay?_

_Kim? It's Mom. You forgot to pick up your sister at Emily's again. What did I tell you about being so irresponsible? I-_ Click. I skipped that and deleted it.

_Okay, I'm getting ready for my date. Where the hell are you?! You have my ring, Kim. Call me back._

_I'm going to wring your neck. My plan is ruined, thanks._

"Jacob, do me a favour?!" I cried. "Turn this truck around and head for Port Angeles. Now!"

He looked at me, confused. "But Kim…"

"Now!" I cried and he squealed the truck around so fast that he startled a guy driving the opposite way at us and he skidded on his breaks and honked. I wound down my window and stuck my head out it. "Sorry! It's an emergency." I froze in shock as the guy rolled down his own window. He looked like Jared, but not. He was older, obviously, with the defined features and maturity in his eyes. He was tall with the same buzz cut Jared has, but longer as it was obviously done a long time ago. He seemed to recognize me and I squinted. "Sam Uley?"

His face, indifferent and calm, lifted up into a smile. "Good afternoon Kim. Listen, I have to talk to you about something…"

"Sorry, I have no time!" I exclaimed as I looked at the time. "Step on it Jake, seriously. I can't be late. Sorry Sam! Call my mom or something." And I ducked back in as Jacob sped off.

He looked straight ahead, angrily. "I really hate Sam." He spat with venom. "He thinks he's so high and mighty, just because he's on the council. My dad thinks he's God."

I shrugged. "He seems okay."

"And you know how Jared was missing for two whole weeks? I heard that after the first few days, people saw him hanging with Sam. And all his hair was gone and he had magically gotten muscles and they were like clones. I think they're doing drugs."

"Steroids?"

He shook his head. "No… Well, maybe. But I think they're doing something else too. Something that's stronger, bigger."

"Well… As interesting as that sounds, I would really like you to step on it. Thanks."

"This truck doesn't go that fast!" He exclaimed as he pushed the speedometer to eighty-five.

I rolled my eyes and pulled out my phone. "Jeff, its Kim!" I exclaimed as soon as he picked up the phone.

"Jesus. I've been calling you all day! Where are you? You still have my ring, right? You haven't lost it? I can't believe this!" He exclaimed, throwing accusation after another.

I sighed. "Just hold on, it'll be fine. I'll see you soon."

"See me? What? Kim-" I hung up on his and leant back in my seat.

We drove for another twenty minutes silently, the radio playing in the background quietly. "Hey Jake? I don't mean to be a bother, but can you, you know, drive faster?" I commented. He rolled his eyes at me and pushed his foot a little faster on the gas pedal.

About ten minutes later, the engine rumbled and we jerked to a stop. "Shit." He cursed.

"What happened?" I panicked, looking at the time.

"I told you the car didn't go that fast." He grumbled. "The engine is stalled. Luckily I brought my tool kit with me, but it'll take me a good half an hour to fix it."

I threw open the truck door and jumped out. "I don't have that kind of time, Jake! I'll have to run. Sorry about your truck, I'll meet you back here!" Then I paused. "Don't you dare leave without me!" I hit the ground and started running, ignoring Jacob as he called me, becoming more distant until I couldn't hear him anymore.

It wasn't that long of a run to Bella Italia, I just kept up my pace and didn't stop for anything. People stared at me, but I couldn't even stop to catch my breath.

I broke through the doors of the restaurant, startling the people around. "Can I help you?" The hostess asked.

"Yes I'm-" I trailed off, catching a glimpse of bright red hair. "Excuse me. Jeffrey!" I called, jogging into the dining area.

"I'll be right back." I heard him murmur, getting up from his table. "Kim!" He cried, grabbing me up in a hug. "How did you get here?"

I laughed breathlessly, my face probably bright red from the cold and running. "Jacob drove me. I kind of stalled his truck…" I pulled the ring off my good hand and handed it to him. "Go get her, tiger."

"Come sit with us. I want you to witness this." So I did.

She said yes, of course and they offered to drive me home. I told them I should probably wait with Jacob, and asked them to drop me off where his truck was.

He was obviously done working on it, the hood was shut and everything was put away. But he was still there waiting for me, just like he promised. "Go get him, tigress." My brother winked at me from the driver's seat.

"Is that your man? Nice catch, Kim. He's a fine piece of meat." Callie commented, smiling at me.

I grinned at her. "Welcome to the family." I hopped out, waved them off and ran over to Jacob, jumping in on his side of the truck and hugging him. "I'm sorry." I murmured.

He laughed, stroking my hair. "What was the rush for?"

I explained the story to him on the way home, driving slowly into the ceasing light. "I watched you run until I couldn't see you anymore. Did you ever think about joining track?"

"I'm not always that fast. Proper motivation, you know? I'm too lazy to join track anyway."

He sighed. "I guess we don't have time for our date anymore, I'm sorry."

"Hey, I was with you. I'll take that over any dinner date any day." I stretched over and kissed him on the cheek. "Let's just enjoy the ride home together."

And we did.

I got home to a quiet household. Mom was out because she was working a double shift today and would be at work until midnight. Lakota was at Emily's. Jeff offered to go get her but he was with Callie and I really wanted them to spend some time together. So I decided to walk the short few minutes to her house.

I knocked on the door and Emily opened it, her right side bright with happiness. "Hi Kim!" She chirped. "Come inside sweetheart, Lakota's just finishing up a picture she was drawing." I smiled and kicked off my shoes, following her inside. I never wore shoes in her house, no matter how many times she told me it was okay. It was so clean that I didn't want to scuff up the floors.

"So how are you today?" She asked me as I walked into the kitchen. "Hot chocolate?"

I smiled politely. "I'd love some. And I'm great today, how are you?"

"Well, I've been better. I'm a little stress out today, as is Sam." She looked it, her eyes were drooping. I suddenly felt bad for not being around for Lakota. "Oh, don't worry about not picking her up." She saw the guilt in my eyes and glanced down at my wrist, seemingly cringing. "I heard about what happened. I don't blame you one bit. Lakota! Your sister's here."

She jumped out of the chair she was sitting in and barreled over to me. "Kim!" I scooped her up in my arms, heavy as she was getting and hoisted her on my hip. "You never picked me up."

"Sorry kiddo, accidents happen right? You go ahead and finish your drawing, I'll wait for you." I smiled and we both sat down in the chairs at the small table against the wall. The room was silent, except for the scribbling of crayons on paper.

Suddenly, the door slammed open and I could hear two male voices. I recognized one right away. Crap.

I forgot that Jake had told me about Jared and Sam. I blushed, embarrassed and ducked my head to look at the table and ran a hand over my ponytail.

"Emily," Sam shouted from the hallway. "It's no use, the kid won't budge. I swear, I thought that after I explained to him about Jared being a-" He cut off as he entered the kitchen, noticing me. "Oh. Hi Kim, how are you?"

I blushed and glanced up. "Hi." I smiled weakly. "I'm good, how are you?"

"Tired." He gave me a pitiful grin and slumped against the counter. "Listen, about what I needed to tell you earlier…"

"Kim?" Jared asked. His eyes studied me and they lit up when he realised I was actually there. "Kim!"

Oh lord. "Jared." I murmured, nodding my head.

He looked concerned. "Are you alright? How's your wrist?"

"Sore." I responded, clipped. I hoped he'd get the message and stop talking to me. But he didn't, he just stared at me like I was a million dollars in a sunken treasure chest pulled up from the ocean. Emily slid a mug of hot chocolate towards me. "Thank you."

She smiled warmly. "You're welcome dear."

I lifted my head, as hard as that was for me and tried to look Sam in the eye. He was staring at me with unabashed curiosity. "I apologize Sam, go on?"

He cleared his throat. "The council believes that it's in the best interest of everyone on the Reservation," I watched his eyes slide over to Jared. "That you did not have any sort of romantic relationship with Jacob Black."

My hand froze on the handle of the mug I was going to lift in shock. I opened and closed my mouth but nothing came out. Finally, "Are you insane?!" I shouted.

The two boys flinched back and Emily turned over to look at me. "Since when do you have any say in what I do?"

"Jacob is…" Jared tried to find the right way to phrase it. "Not the right guy for you."

I laughed hysterically. "The way you're saying that, it's making me seem like you're trying to imply that you're the right guy for me." He said nothing, just looked at me with those intense, serious blue eyes. "You've got to be kidding me! At least Jacob noticed me. At least Jake knew my name! Mr. I-didn't-actually-know-your-name-until-someone-mentioned-it-in-the-hallway!" I blew up. "I'm sorry to say this but you are seriously messed up. What kind of drugs are you taking that has your fucked up brain convinced that I even wanted anything to do with you? I'm over you! I'm finally over you, after nine years of trying to convince you that I even existed and now you want to pay attention to me? I don't play fucked up mind games, Jared! So do me a favour and leave me the hell alone!"

I looked at my sister. "Lakota, we're leaving." I snapped. "Thanks a lot Emily, I'll see you soon." I grabbed Lakota's hand and stalked out of the room.

We walked home in the cold, dark rain together. And in that five minute walk, I'd never felt so paranoid. It felt like every step I made, someone was watching me.

And I swear I saw a pair of glowing eyes in the bushes.

I made it to my room and into my bed before the tears started flowing. I kept them silent, soft muffles into my pillow until my little sister finally fell asleep. Then I started sobbing, hugging my pillow to my chest.

I dialed a number on my cell phone, trying to calm down my tears. "Hello?" A deep, groggy voice picked up

"Jake?" I whispered, sniffling.

He groaned. "Kim? Hey, is that you?" His voice turned into a husky whisper. "I shouldn't even be talking to you right now…"

"I know. But I really needed to hear your voice."

He sighed and he started to sound angry. "Did Sam talk to you?"

"Who else?"

"My dad got to me. He said that 'by mutual decision of the council, dating Kimberly Spencer would not be best for-" I cut him off.

"The rest of the people on the Reservation. I got the same speech from Sam. Only he seemed to think that Jared was the right guy for me instead." I murmured.

He got silent and I held my breath, thinking I'd crossed a line. "Jared, my ass. You're my girlfriend."

I laughed. "I thought I wasn't a possession."

"Well, you can't expect me not to get a little bit possessive when I'm jealous. I don't like fighting for you."

I reassured him. "There's no competition. Even if we just started dating, I still like you best."

"You should get some sleep, honey. It's almost midnight. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Jake?" I called his name before he hung up. "Will you just talk to me until I fall asleep?"

He paused. "Okay. I won't hang up unless you're actually asleep okay? I promise."

He rambled on in that dark, rough voice that I loved so much. He didn't wait for me to answer, he just prattled about unimportant things that kept a dreamy smile on my face as I slipped into unconsciousness.

The last thing I remember him saying was that he'd do anything for me, before I drifted off peacefully.


	5. It's a New Day

**A/N: Well, this chapter came out a bit later than I expected. I kept working on it little bits during the day but I always got distracted. I had to finish my culminating for school, and I've been sick so it took me a while to finish up. So sorry for the delay.**

**And I'm sorry that it's not as long as usual. I beta myself so as I said before, all mistakes are my own.**

I woke up in the morning with a jolt, shooting straight up out of the bed. My throat hurt, my eyes were puffy, my head was pounding and I felt like I was going to hurl.

To top that off, my wrist was pulsing with pain, though it wasn't really noticeable because my whole body ached. My frizzy ringlets were stuck up everywhere, sticking to my sweat that was matted across my forehead.

I was sick. Damn it.

"Mom!" I tried to call, but the words got stuck in my raspy throat. I tried to move, which was unsettling to my stomach and I leant over my bed just in time to throw up. I moaned, slumping over so my head hung over the bed because I could barely move. "Mom?" No one heard me.

I was still in that position when my brother came up and knocked on my closed door. "Kim! Hey, if you don't get up now, you're going to be late. And then you're going to have to walk, because I'm not waiting for you." I moaned and tried to breathe heavily through my nose to stop the puke in my throat from coming back up. "Kim?" He knocked once more and opened the door just as I tossed my cookies again.

He wrinkled his nose and grimaced. "I think I'm sick." I complained in my scratchy voice.

"Clearly." He mocked. "I guess I'm going to be late after all. Do you want me to call Mom and ask her if she'll come back home…? Of course not." He trailed off after I weakly raised my eyebrow at him. "Stay right here, don't move and try not to throw up again until I come back."

Jeff, bless him, came back with a bucket, two towels and some cleaning spray. He wordlessly handed me the bucket with a pointed look and worked on cleaning up my handiwork from before. I looked at him with an apology clearly written in my eyes as I didn't have the energy to speak. "Don't worry about it." He laughed. "I've got a strong stomach."

He left me with a glass of ginger-ale, some paper towels, aspirin and a nice large bucket. I fell back into my pillows with a tired sigh and grabbed my cell phone from my nightstand. Jake answered it on the first ring, obviously expecting my call. "Hello?"

"Hey Jake." I croaked.

There was a long, confused pause. "Kim?"

"Yeah it's me. Sorry, I can't come to school today. I'm really sick."

"Do you need me to come over there? I don't like the idea of you being sick and me not being there to take care of you."

I smiled in spite of myself. "No, don't cut class for me. I just wanted to let you know. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

He laughed. "Tomorrow? Honey, I'm coming over right after school to make you feel better. I promise. Now get some sleep okay? I expect you at school tomorrow missy."

"Alright, well goodbye Jake."

"Bye sweetheart, feel better." He hung up first. I dropped my phone to the bed and sighed. I really hope Billy and the rest of the council forget about their stupid, silly little order. 'Best interest for the people of La Push' my butt! Who really cares if Jacob and I date anyway? It's none of their business.

My eyelids started to droop and I fell asleep, my mind ranting blurring off.

I woke up sometime later, feeling a thousand times worse than I already had, to someone banging loudly on the front door. I closed my eyes shut tightly, waiting for it to subside.

It got louder and louder until it sounded like the person was going to bring their fist right through the door. "Hold on!" I tried to yell as I stumbled out of bed. My voice barely carried out of the room, but the banging magically stopped.

I stumbled down the stairs on weak legs, my head throbbing through my ears. I swung the door open to find the last person in the world I was expecting to be standing on the doorstep. "Jared?" I croaked, blinking

He pursed his lips, the frantic look wiping off his face, replaced with a sheepish one. "Oh. Hi Kim… You weren't in school, so I thought something was wrong…"

I stared at him for a good minute, his ice blue eyes locking with mine. Suddenly, I felt a lot dizzier than I had a second ago and I started to tilt over. I fell into his chest and he grabbed me with his arms. I then noticed that he was indeed not wearing a shirt, and that his skin was burning. I jumped back. "Jesus! Your skin is hot."

He grimaced, placing his forearm on my head. "No, _your_ skin is hot. Do you have a fever?"

"Obviously, I'm sick."

He took in my appearance and nodded. "That you are. I'll help you up to bed and get you a cold washcloth to cool you down." He started to come in and I freaked out.

"No, no! What are you doing?! You can't come in here!"

He looked confused. "Why?"

"W-why?!" I spluttered. "Did you not hear anything I said yesterday?"

The most heartbreaking expression crossed his face. "I did, I heard every single word." His face levelled down to mine. "But nothing is going to keep me away from you. Nothing."

The intensity of his words scared me. His eyes felt like they were literally burning me and I could feel them in my stomach. Oh wait, no… It's just vomit.

Vomit which I proceeded to spray all over the floor and just missed Jared's shoes. My legs were shaking and I wanted to thank him for taking a good grip on my arm or my knees would have buckled and I would have been wearing the puke.

His nose crinkled and he looked like he was going to puke himself. But he composed himself, practically lifting me and sitting me on the couch. I trembled and shivered and he eyed me. "Do you have a bucket?"

"In my room upstairs, first door on the left of the stairs." I chattered, teeth clanking together. It was like he flew there and back, arriving and throwing the bucket under my chin just as I proceeded to vomit noisily into it. "Ugh." I grunted. "I am so sorry."

He laughed, his face screwed up into a grimace. "Don't worry about it." I fell back into the couch with a hold on the bucket. "Now, let me get you that cloth." He murmured and disappeared before I could say anything. I knew it was hopeless. Nothing I said would make him leave.

I proved myself wrong a few hours later.

After he cleaned up my puke, he insisted on staying, after the heat of my fever left and I started to get chills. His body was so hot that I just ended up laying into his bare chest and feeling better already. We stayed like that all afternoon unless I felt the need to throw up into my bucket, which had been emptied almost three times, watching videos on the TV until the clock showed me it was almost three.

"You should go." I murmured, leaning my forehead against his shoulder.

"No thanks." His voice was husky. "I'm not needed anywhere. Plus, I'm comfortable where I am."

"Not for your benefit, for mine. Jake's coming over after school and I don't think he'd be too happy to find you here."

His spine trembled and he shook once. "Jacob? I thought you guys broke up. The council said…"

"Why would we break up because of the council? I told you that it was a stupid suggestion. I'm going to quote you and say that nothing can keep me from Jake. Not the council, or you or Billy." I tried to sound angry and strong, but my voice cracked.

He stood up abruptly, knocking me around and making my stomach turn uneasily. "I have to go." He spat, rushing out the door and slamming it so hard that it splintered. Nice, Jared. Try explaining that to my mom.

I felt oddly cold without him. Not just my body, but everything else too. I tried to figure out what had him deluded into thinking that I really wanted to go out with him. The only answer I could come up with was drugs, unfortunately.

"Kim?!" Jeff called as he swung the door open. I covered my ears and cringed as the sound passed through my throbbing head. "Oh sorry." He lowered his voice greatly. "How are you- What happened to the door?"

I grimaced, pulling the blanket tighter around me. "I have no idea. And I feel like crap, thanks." He had Lakota on his back and Callie attached to his arm. She smiled at me. "Hey Cal, how are you?"

"Probably a lot better than you. Let's get you up to bed." She helped me back into my bed with a glass of water and some more aspirin. "Just relax, I hope you feel better."

She left and almost immediately, my eyes closed. The pounding of my head dulled as I entered dream-mode.

I don't know how long I slept for, but I remember waking up to someone standing beside my bed, looking worried. At first I thought it was Jared, and my heart leapt up in excitement.

It wasn't, it was Jacob. I tried to force a weak smile on my face. "You look worse than I anticipated." He complained, laying a hand on my forehead.

I tried to talk, but I ended up coughing like a maniac. I coughed so much that I started to throw up, and I grabbed my bucket just in time. Jake grimaced. "Thanks, Jake. That's what everyone always wants to hear from their boyfriend." I joked weakly. "You really know how to cheer me up. And you didn't even bring me flowers! How could you?"

He sat on the edge on my bed and took my hand, flinching from the heat. "Well, I didn't think you were into that kind of stuff." I gave him a playfully angry look. "Wait, do you like that kind of stuff?! Cause I can go right now, it'll only take me a few minutes to get you some…" He trailed off. "You were kidding."

I laughed. "I don't need anything, as long as I have you."

He looked at me and rolled his eyes. "You're going to make me sick. What did you do today?" He paused. "And what happened to your door?"

"Well…" I started, debating on whether I should tell him the truth. I went with a yes on that one. "I slept till about noon. And then… Jared came over."

He narrowed his eyes. "Why?"

"Nothing happened!" I exclaimed. "He just heard I wasn't at school and came to check on me. Then he refused to leave and I mean look at him and then look at me. I couldn't just drag him out of here. So we watched movies on TV all afternoon and then I asked him to leave because you were coming over and I knew how that would go and then he just got angry because he thought we would have broken up because of the council and when he left he slammed the door and it kind of splintered." I said that all with one breath and exhaled, coughing after.

He shook his head. "One day, he's going to get what's coming to him."

I frowned. "Hey, he was only coming over here to see how I was feeling. He didn't do anything bad…"

He looked at me sceptically. "You're defending him?"

"No!" Then I paused. Was I defending him? It didn't seem like it to me. I was just stating a fact. But I felt offended when he brought up Jared like that. "I mean, I don't think so."

"You don't think you're defending him?" He snorted. "How exactly does that work, Kim? Either you're on my side or you're on his. There's no in between."

"Sides?" I asked as best as I could. "Sides!? There's nothing happening that would make sides appear in the first place! When did this become about sides?"

He narrowed his eyes. "Sides were born when you started hanging around Jared behind my back."

"I told you about it, didn't I!? I don't understand how that's behind your back!" I got myself so worked up that my stomach started to turn and I could feel the nausea creeping through my stomach. My strong point in this argument was ruined by the sound of me puking everything I had tried to eat for lunch.

But it wasn't once. It just kept coming out and I couldn't stop. Jake put his hands on my shoulders. "Easy, baby. You're okay, it's okay."

I groaned and wiped my mouth on the long sleeve on my shirt, slumping against Jake and completely forgetting about our argument. He stroked his hand across my matted, sweaty hair and kissed my burning forehead. "I'm sorry, I know you told me. Sometimes, I just get a little too mad for my own good. I'm sorry, I never meant to get you so worked up."

"It's fine." I murmured, closing my eyes. "I should have…called the cops or something."

He laughed his infectious laugh. "That's a little extreme. You should have just called Sam Uley. Jared's like his little pet or something, he'd do whatever Sam told him."

"Hm." I mumbled thoughtfully. "I'll have to keep that in mind next time."

He brushed my forehead with his lips again. "No you won't. Because there won't be a next time, I'm going to set him straight. No, we're going to set him straight. You and me together, deal?"

"Alright, tomorrow. But I swear to God, please don't get in another fight. I can't always protect you, you know." I winked at him.

He shook his head and pressed a kiss to my nose. "Tomorrow then."

* * *

It turned out that we would not be talking to Jared tomorrow. Or Thursday or Friday, or the whole weekend. I had the flu, a really bad case of the flu. I think I lost about ten pounds during that little episode.

But it was Monday again, and I was back at school. I looked a lot better, I felt a thousand times better and I was so glad to be out of that bed it was insane. My brother drove me to school, with a hand placed comically over his mouth. I rolled my eyes as he laughed, thinking he was just hilarious.

"Kim!" I heard Summer scream from across the parking lot. I'm pretty sure everyone within a five person radius turned to look at her as she busted her way through the slung of people to throw herself at me. "Holy crap, I've missed you so much!"

I laughed, squeezing her back. "You saw me on Friday."

"Yeah, but you haven't been at school. And I have been stuck with them." She jerked her thumb back at the boys. "Jacob has been whining the whole time about missing you, Embry never talks and Quil, is an obnoxious, perverted loudmouth."

I smiled at her. "Well, it's good to be back."

She laughed heartily, linking her arm through mine. "You better believe it's good to have you back. God, have you talked to Jared lately?"

I blushed, glad Jake didn't tell them about our almost fight. "Briefly, why do you ask?"

"He seems I don't know… Fucked up. Like this whole time you've been gone, he looked haggard and worn out. And worried, definitely worried. I was just wondering if you'd heard anything."

Really…? "Nope, nothing." I murmured.

She laughed. "So he's finally stopped stalking you?"

"Well, I guess we'll see." I told her as she dragged me over to the guys.

Quil bear hugged me, twirling me around. "Kim! God, how could you do this to me? How could you leave me alone with these idiots!?" Summer glared at him. "And my beautiful, wonderful girlfriend, of course."

I rolled my eyes when they started kissed and Embry tugged my arm back and we started to walk away from the couple, Jake following silently. "Let's leave them."

"How was your week at school without me?" I teased Jake, jabbing him in the ribs.

He shook his head. "Very strange. I didn't confront Jared, like you told me to. But I've seen him in the hall and he looks really distressed. And he keeps sending me glances with different emotions varying on them. Pity, regret and amazement. He's looking at me like he idolizes me or something." He told me gruffly, almost with a hint of disbelief. "He's just gotten stranger, Kim."

I laughed. "Maybe he's having problems at home or something." He looked at me again with that look, the same look from last night. "I swear I'm not defending him. I'm just saying."

He sighed and kissed my lips, lingering there for a bit longer than usual before Embry coughed awkwardly. "Sorry man, I just can't help it, you know?" He gestured to me and winked.

I grimaced. "You're a pig."

Embry laughed and the two of them trailed off while I got my books from my locker. My morning went smoothly, except for the monstrous amount of homework that I had from being away for so long. No one said anything to me as usual, but they all glanced at my ring finger before they looked away just as quick. It was a lonely morning.

I got to my table a bit early, the boys were missing. So I sat down with my tray quietly at our usual spot and pulled out a book to read. I could feel someone's eyes on me.

Jared.

He was sitting two tables away from me from my front, staring at me with furrowed brows. Beside him, there was a guy that looked like him. No, they looked identical. Same height, same posture, same haircut. Their features were almost the same too. Wait, was that Paul?!

Oh no, Sam got to him too. He hadn't been gone as long as Jared. It was only a week, but he looked a lot more tensed up and scared than Jared ever did.

Paul was looking at the table but he sort of side glanced at Jared and when he noticed his eyes were focused on something, his head snapped up to look at me. He narrowed his own eyes when they locked with mine and I blushed, shifting in my seat awkwardly.

Jared's hand came up almost naturally to smack him across the back of his head. Hard. I could hear the resounding smack from all the way over here. Involuntarily, my lips bubbled out a laugh. The sound of it was so silent, I didn't think even I had heard it correctly.

But Jared's whole face lit up and he looked over here and grinned at me. Again, I blushed even deeper and smiled awkwardly back. He seemed to whisper something over to Paul and Paul looked disgusted, but he got out of his seat and looked at me.

Then, he started to walk over. My jaw nearly dropped as I realised he was headed straight for me. I didn't know what to do. It would be too obvious if I looked back at my book and tried to ignore the fact that he was coming over. And it'd be extremely creepy if I kept staring at him like the idiot I was.

So I settled for turning my head to look at Jared and I relaxed almost instantaneously. He was looking at me, still confused but a little bit amused too.

A chair squeaked and I jumped, startled. I had gotten lost while looking at Jared. I tilted my head to the side a fraction to look at Paul, who was sitting in front of me, looking awkward. "Hi." He said curtly.

I heard Jared snickering in the background. "Um…Hello." I muttered.

He sighed. "I'm sorry." I thought I heard him mumble.

"Excuse me?"

"I-I-" He stuttered, glancing at my right wrist pointedly. "I said I'm sorry. It was uncalled for to ruin your painting and grab your wrist like that. I'm a very violent person and sometimes I can't control my temper. Sorry." It was voiced mechanically, almost rehearsed.

I raised an eyebrow at him, placing my book on the table and forgetting about it. "Was that scripted? Did Jared write that for you?"

His hard, annoyed face lifted into an almost smile. "How'd you guess?"

"Just a feeling. Well, thank you anyways. That was…nice of you, I guess." I scrunched up my face at the word nice. "Even if you were forced."

He gave me a mix between a half smile and a smirk before his eyes narrowed dangerously and his face twisted into a sneer. "Can I help you?" He growled.

I was confused, until I felt a hand on my shoulder. Jacob. "Yes, I was just wondering what you were doing at my table… Talking to my girlfriend." He mimicked a cheery voice.

"Jake, relax. He wasn't bothering me at all. I am allowed to talk to people, right?" I asked him, not looking away from Paul. He gave me a quick wink and despite myself, I almost laughed.

Jake saw it though, and he was mad. "Get the hell away from her!" He growled.

Paul stood up, he was a lot taller and bulkier than Jake was. But that didn't seem to scare him. "You want to make me, shorty?" He spat back.

He was shaking just like that day he popped my wrist. I saw Embry and Quil in my peripheral vision, debating whether or not to come over and break up the fight. Jared was headed straight towards us though, pushing Paul back from his stance right up in Jake's face.

"Easy Paul, relax. Let's go outside." They started to walk away and he looked at me. "I'll be back before history, we're starting a project and you're my partner. Bye Kim." Then he locked his eyes with Jake and saw what he had meant before. He looked at him like he was Superman.

Jake was looking at the ground angrily and Quil and Embry approached us cautiously. "Come on Jake, let's sit down." I coaxed, grabbing his arm. He tore it away from me, gave me this look that sent my heart crashing into my stomach and walked out the doors, leaving his tray of food beside me, untouched.

I crumbled into my seat, devastated and guilty, tears springing into my eyes. Embry hesitantly lowered himself into the seat that Paul had previously occupied while Quil touched my head briefly with his hand and followed where Jake had left.

It was an awkwardly silent lunch with just the two of us. I lowered my head to the table, trying not to sob out loud in the middle of the cafeteria. Tears rolled down my cheeks and I felt like such a shmuck. Maybe he was right. I was standing up for not only Jared but Paul, the angriest person in the world. The one who, up until today, I wouldn't even stand near.

What in the world was wrong with me?

About three minutes before the lunch bell rang, signalling lunch to be over, Embry's phone rang. It was Quil, obviously, but I didn't listen to anything that either of them said. I stared at the doors, hoping that Jacob would walk through them and kiss me.

"Jake went home." Embry murmured to me, the first words spoken all lunch. "Just to cool down, he was pretty upset. Don't worry about it too much, Kim. He'll be back to normal by tonight, I promise. And if not, well, tomorrow's a new day right?"

I dried my eyes on my sleeve. "Yeah, a new day." I murmured to myself.

Like the gentleman he was, Embry offered me his arm. "Let me walk you to class."

Despite everything, I smiled up at him tearfully and placed my hand on his inner elbow. History, great.

I got into my class as soon as the bell rang, grimacing that Jared was already seated and ready for me to arrive. I sat down quietly. "Hello Kim." He whispered.

"Hi Jared."

He furrowed his eyebrows. "Are you feeling better? No aches or pains or anything anymore?"

"Nope," I murmured back as I pretended to pay attention to what the teacher was saying. "I'm all healed."

The worried, anxious look that had been on his face all day finally disappeared and his pretty blue eyes sparkled with relief. "I thought for sure that you…" He trailed off as if he just realised he was talking to me. "Never mind."

My face lit up with curiosity but I didn't push it, looking away back to the blackboard. The teacher was busy today, swamped with papers and stuff, so he gave us a free day. I turned to Jared. "I thought you said we were doing a project."

"Would you be mad if I told you I lied just to make sure you didn't leave after Jacob?" He asked me sheepishly.

I tried to glare at him, but I couldn't keep the flattered blush from spreading across my face. "Yes." I muttered lowly.

He laughed at me heartily, sounding a little bit too carefree as if a great weight was lifted off of his shoulder. "You're not mad. You can't resist my good looks and cunning charm."

"That was really nice what you did for me today." I told him softly.

His brows furrowed. "What did I do?"

"Paul…"

"Oh right, right." He answered, realisation lighting up his face. "Yeah, Paul's a bit hard headed at times. But I helped him see what was wrong with the situation and with Sam's help, we both convinced him to apologize. He's actually not a bad guy, Kim. I promise."

He looked at me with worried eyes when I didn't answer him, shifting my own eyes away from him to look at my desk. There was that name again, Sam. I didn't like the way Jared talked about him. Like he was his dad or something, maybe even his hero. It was creepy.

Someone nudged me. "Kim?" Jared asked. "So what do you think?"

"About what?"

He looked at me with amused eyes and shook his head with a small smile on his face, like he knew exactly why I hadn't been answering him. Almost like we were long-time friends who knew each other inside and out. "I said, you have to pick up your sister from Emily's house right? Why don't I give you a ride over? I drove, Sam lent me his truck. Besides, it's supposed to rain." He gave me that heartbreaking smile. "What do you think?"

Oh, Jake would probably be mad… But he went home. And I really didn't feel like walking in the rain. "Sure." I smiled hesitantly. "Meet me at my locker?"

"I'll be there." He grinned so wide that his teeth looked like they were going to split.

I nodded. "Great." Then I dug into my bag, pulled out the book I never got to read at lunch and opened it to the page I was at. He was staring at me looked amused. I stuck my tongue out of the corner of my mouth at him absently and grinned to myself when I heard his laugh.

The bell rang and before I could bolt as I usually did, he grabbed my elbow. "I'll walk you to your locker." He offered, leading me away before I could answer. I passed by Embry and Quil while I was still attached to Jared and they gave me an amused look and mouthed stalker.

I tried to contain my giggle before Jared caught it.

He nodded at Paul, who was staring at us suspiciously before he walked me to the door of my art class where Summer was waiting for me. "I'll see you after school." He winked before he left.

Summer and Paul shot me almost matching looks and I groaned. Oh boy.

She grabbed my arm. "We need to talk."


	6. A Little Thing Called Confusion

**A/N: This is a lot overdue, I'm very sorry. I kept writing and then going away and coming back to it and then I finally got the initiative to finish it. I'm going to apologize in advance for this chapter because I know a lot of you will want to throw shoes at my head. Please refrain from doing so, for it might damage your computer screen.**

**And you wouldn't be able to write me a nice, long review. I beta myself, all mistakes are my own, and a happy New Year to everyone! Much love.**

This is bad, this is _so_ bad.

We were sitting in silence, side by side at our easels. She had pulled me into the classroom by my elbow to talk, yet she hadn't said one word. "Summer?" I asked timidly.

She turned, opened her mouth and froze, turning back around. She repeated that three times, spluttering nonsense. I waited for her as she stopped stammering and finally decided what to say. "What the hell?" She accused. "How could you do this to me? To Jake!?"

"What are you-" Summer cut me off.

"I can't believe this! I stood up for you! I trusted you and damn it, I took your side! Just friends, my ass! You look at him like he's everything you ever needed." She stopped screaming at me to glare at all the nosy people who were sitting near us, listening intently and when they backed off, she turned to me again. "My God! I was on your side and I argued for hours with Quil about this!"

Shut up, shut up, shut up! She was making me feel really guilty, even though I didn't have anything to be guilty about right? "What is it with you and Jacob about sides? There are no sides to choose from!"

"Oh, so now he's Jacob?" Crap, I never called him Jacob. She dropped her paintbrush and started packing up all her stuff. In a calm voice, she said, "You were the one who drew the line that created the sides, Kim. And until you get your act together, I'm with _Jake_ on this." Then she got up and moved to an empty easel.

My heart plummeted into my stomach and she didn't even look back at me. She just started talking to Amy Winters four seats down from me. "Great. That's just perfect." I muttered, grabbing my book bag and starting to walk away without cleaning up my station.

Everyone was watching me, I could feel their eyes. "Kim, the period has just started." The teacher pointed out as I placed one hand on the doorknob.

I turned to face her. "Actually for me, the class just ended. Bye." And I, the shy and scared Kimberly Anne Spencer, stormed out of class before it had ended, a door slam echoing on the way out.

Standing outside the door, I could hear Paul's loud laughter and his thundering applause and I smiled to myself, feeling a sense of pride.

And then I realised I should probably get out of the hallway before Mrs. Long paged the office and I got caught.

As I sunk down the silent hallway awkwardly, I realised that I had never skipped before and had no idea what in the world I was doing. I considered just going home, only for a short minute before I remember that Jared was waiting for me after school.

No, I couldn't possibly leave now.

I mentally slapped myself for the giddy feeling that I got in my stomach and my chest when I thought about him. _Jacob, Jacob, Jacob, Jared, Jared-_

_Bad Kim!_

It was hopeless. I still had feelings for Jared, and Jared knew it.

Unfortunately, so did Jake

What was I supposed to do? I had Jake. Jake was reassurance. Jake was comfortable, Jake was real, Jake was home. He was my now, he was the feeling I got when he kissed me, that lasted all the way to my toes. He was the smile I had in the morning. He was acceptance, he was mine.

And then there was Jared. God, even the thought of his name makes my knees go weak. Jared was the unattainable… Until recently. All he seems to want is me now. Jared's fascinating, he's adventure, he's excitement and he's probably the sweetest person I've ever met.

I was torn… Great.

My mind was racing as I stepped outside into the freezing cold, forgetting that I hadn't stopped to retrieve my jacket from my locker. But I kept walking, lost in my own thoughts.

And then it started raining. It started as small, fat raindrops just falling into my hair before the downpour started. I could feel the heavy rain soak my blue sweater, the freezing raindrops falling through the material and chilling my skin. My hair matted to my face, I kept walking.

I hadn't realised where I was walking to, and I found myself at the local park, standing in front of the very swing where I first met Jared.

The rain was pouring in my eyes and everything was a bit blurry, but I sat on the cold seat, ignoring the water that soaked into the butt of my pants and gripped the metal bars with my trembling hands, the left grip tighter than the right one.

And I kicked off from the ground, pumping my legs faster and faster and closing my eyes as the swing moved higher into the sky. I could feel the ice cold wind blowing against my face. I braced myself, cradling my wrist before I let myself lean forward and jump off of it.

For a second, I felt like I was flying. My arms and legs were weightless as I plummeted closer to the ground. I landed on my feet gracefully, before falling to my knees and letting myself slump to the ground. I took in a breath, wet gravel stuck to the side of my cheek, and I started to cry.

Someone approached me. I could hear their footsteps hesitantly coming towards me.

And as much as I hoped that it was Jake coming to scoop me up and tell me everything was okay and then kiss me passionately, we all know how life works these days.

So I didn't look up as Jared lowered himself next to me. "Isn't it funny?" I muttered to him. "How the person you're closest to can make you feel so distant? Isn't it funny how someone who can always make you feel good about yourself, can make you feel your worst?"

"Kim, get off the ground." He said soothingly, his hot hand reaching over and tucking one side of my hair behind my ear.

"Go away."

He sighed. "Kim sweetheart, it's freezing out. You're going to get sick again."

My stomach bubbled up with excitement furiously and I hated the feeling. "Leave me alone Jared. Don't call me that."

"Don't call you what, Kim? That's sort of your name." He joked. I didn't laugh. "Kim please, talk to me. Tell me what's wrong."

I screamed, startled. "Don't touch me!" I yelled, as both his arms tried to pull me closer. "You don't have that right. You're not allowed to touch me!" I pulled myself a good two feet away from him and curled my knees up to my chest. "You want to know what's wrong. Everything is falling apart because of you! God, why now?! Why now, Jared? Can't you just leave me alone?!"

I watched as he closed his eyes, even in the rain I could tell he was crying. "I wish it were that simple. But it's not." He crawled towards me and I saw the gravel sticking to his hands. "I want you Kim and I will do whatever it takes to get you. Nothing will ever change that."

"Damn it!" I moaned, frustrated. "I hate you. I hate you, I hate you, I hate-" I stopped talking, because his wet hands, full of gravel, came up to cup my face and pull my lips to his.

I've dreamt about this moment so many times. I dreamt about us kissing on the beach, or in a bed before we made love. I never imagined it would be in a park, during school hours, in the pouring rain, both of us crying, angry and frustrated.

But the feeling was better than I could describe.

I pressed myself against him. I could feel his warm skin immediately drying the front of my sweater. Our tongues tangled angrily and our lips were smashed together. My hands rose up and I went to grab his hair, like I would with Jacob, but he didn't have any hair, so my hands clenched tightly around his skin.

And then my grip faltered. _Jacob._

I tore away from him hurriedly, panting, tasting the tears that ran onto my lips along with the rain. I pressed my palms into my face. "I shouldn't have done that." I whispered, out of breath. "That was so wrong."

"That wasn't wrong, Kim. It was right and you could feel it, I know you could. We belong together." Jared insisted.

"No we don't, Jared. There is no such thing as soul mates. Just stop it okay? I'm sorry, that was wrong of me to lead you on like that. I have to go." I scrambled to my feet before he could stop me, throwing my backpack over my shoulder and speed walking away.

He ran after me, much faster, and grabbed my arm. "Wait, please just wait." I jerked away from him. "Will you just listen to me?!" He yelled as I walked faster. He finally stopped following me. Good.

"Leave me alone! I don't want to hear it! There is nothing you could say right now that could fix-"

"I'm a werewolf!" He shouted at me. My steps faltered. Did he just say that he was a…? "I'm a werewolf." He said softer.

Oh my God. "Jared, I really want to be your friend. I'm trying so hard to have sort of platonic relationship with you. But when you feed me bullshit like this, it makes it so hard. Do me a favour and stop hanging out around Sam Uley. Lay off the drugs and maybe get some help."

"I'm not lying, Kim. The legends are true. And you're my imprint." Oh lovely, there he goes bringing up the damn legends again. My father was on the council before he died, he was obsessed with those legends. Thankfully I wasn't a huge freak and I knew it was all superstition. "Wait, where are you going?"

I kept on walking and shouted back at him as I walked, "I have to get back to school, Jared. Science is starting soon."

"I just told you my biggest secret and you're just going to walk away casually and pretend like everything is normal? Aren't you terrified? Curious?" He asked as he jogged to catch up with me. "You don't care that I'm a werewolf?"

I rolled my eyes at him. "Nope, I don't care at all. You go ahead and be a werewolf, whatever you want." I bit back at him, sarcastically.

He didn't seem to catch it and he breathed a sigh of relief. "Well that went easier than I expected. I never really guessed it would go that well, with what happened with Sam and-" He caught sight of the look on my face. "You think I'm crazy."

"Well what else am I supposed to think?!" I muttered. "You just told me you were a werewolf out of nowhere. I don't know if that's a side effect of the drugs but…"

"I'm not on drugs!"

I gave him an exasperated sigh. "Well how do you explain all of that?" I pointed to his muscles. "And this?" I pointed to his head and made circles around my ear.

"Kim, I just told you. I'm a werewolf!" Jared exclaimed.

"Yeah, right. And I'm a vampire." That was obviously the wrong thing to say. Jared started shaking and he looked so angry that I was almost terrified. But I didn't want to show it, so I tried to put a bitter edge in my trembling voice. "Oh no, what are you going to do now? Turn into a werewolf?"

His eyes narrowed at me. "Not in front of you, I'm not." I heard him mumble. "I have to go."

"Wait, does that mean I'm not getting a ride?!" I called after him as he started running into the trees.

He didn't even look back at me and all of a sudden, I couldn't hear him anymore. It was like he vanished into thin air. Oh man, what did I do? Now everyone was mad at me.

I trekked back to school in the pouring rain, down on my spirits and extremely cold. I was dripping wet by the time I got to science and I pushed my hair out of my face before I sat down in my seat with a loud, sopping splat. My lab partner gave me a calculating look before he got up and went over to where Paul sat.

Now I remember his name, Daniel Cope, one of Paul and Jared's good friends. Or ex friend by the way Paul glared at him. I couldn't hear what he said, but it was obviously something about me because they both suddenly turned and looked my way. Daniel was looking at me with open disgust but Paul smirked at me.

Paul started walking over to me. "Grab your stuff and follow me." He told me quickly, turning away just as fast. I obeyed and ran to catch up with him as he was already out the door.

"Where are we going?" I asked as he grabbed my hand and started pulling me down the hall. I secretly revelled in the heat of his hand that covered my wet, freezing one.

We stopped in front of a locker and he let go of me and started muttering something under his breath as he entered the combination on the locker. I don't know what he was looking for, but his locker was a pigsty. There were papers and garbage and books that he just tossed around. Finally he pulled out two pieces of folded fabric and thrust it into my hands.

"What's this?" I asked curiously.

He rolled his eyes, slammed the locker shut again and started pushing me towards the girl's bathroom. "Just get changed okay? I know I'll get my ass beat if I let you walk around like that and catch a cold."

"But the bell's going to ring." I protested, trying to shove against his hand.

He was too strong and he literally pushed me into the door and it swung open. "Get changed." Obediently, like a good and scared little girl, I shut myself into a stall and stood there awkwardly for two minutes.

I unfolded the clothes and just looked at them for a minute. There was a pair of black Adidas jogging pants and a blue button up shirt. "Um Paul?"

He didn't answer me and I had a feeling he wasn't going to say anything until I came out. So I peeled off my jeans, my sweater, my shirt and my tank top until I was just standing in my underwear.

After I was dressed and just buttoning up the shirt, I realised that it was a bit- no, way too big for me so that the top button just came to the middle of my chest and you could see the top of my breasts.

I'll give this shirt one thing. It does wonders for my non-existent cleavage. "I don't want to come out." I complained from the other side of the bathroom door.

"There's no one around, Kim. I might drag you out." He threatened. "I'm not afraid of the girl's bathroom."

Busted. "Alright, alright." I complied, grabbing my wet clothes and my backpack and making my way out. He was leaning against the wall, looking completely uninterested until he looked at me and did sort of a double take to my chest.

"Jared won't believe he missed this." He muttered, ogling me.

I perked up and grabbed his arm excitedly. "What, why? Have you talked to him today? He's been acting really weird…"

I shoved my wet clothes in my bag, not caring about the books and papers in it, and swung it around my shoulder. "What do you mean weird?" Paul asked curiously.

"Okay I-" I stopped talking and snorted. "So you won't believe this, but Jared told me that he was a-" I burst out into giggles. "A werewolf!" I gasped.

I bit my lip, trying to hold in my smile and waiting for Paul to laugh along with me. His angry face suddenly got narrower, harder. "What happened?"

So I recounted the incident, leaving out all the parts before that and trusting that hopefully Jared would keep our kiss a secret. "And then he ran off shaking. He wouldn't even look at m- hey!" I cried after him as he broke into a run down the hall. "Where are you going?!"

I was left standing awkwardly in the hallway as he disappeared around the corner. So silently, I walked back to my class.

The bell rang and I nearly tripped over my own feet trying to get to my locker and outside quickly. I was planning to run to Emily's and then get home as fast as I could, because it was still raining. But when I looked up from under my hood, I saw Jared leaning out the window of a shiny black four wheel drive.

He waved at me and I looked around for any signs of Summer, Embry or Quil before I booked it into the passenger's seat. And I was greeted with a smile so big and so genuine that it was like nothing awkward had ever passed between us. "Good afternoon Kim." He greeted.

"Hi Jared." I murmured, fiddling with a piece of string from the pant leg.

His smile got wider, which looked like it was going to split his face open. "You look beautiful in my clothes." I'm sure that my face lit up like a Christmas tree because I hadn't thought that these were Jared's clothes. I felt my cheeks burning a hole in my face and I sort of ducked away. "Don't be embarrassed, you look beautiful in everything."

I looked away from him even more. "Thank you for picking me up. I didn't think you were coming back."

He shrugged happily. "Well I wasn't going to leave you to walk alone in the freezing rain when I was going to be there anyway. Seriously, if you need anything don't hesitate to ask me because I would do anything for you."

Why? Why is making this so hard for me? But I don't say that, I just nod and give him a really fake, overdone smile that he can totally see right through because he frowns at me before I turn away to look out the window once again.

And the rest of the ride was silent. I mean literally so silent you could hear an ant sneeze.

So I was immensely relieved when we pulled into Emily's driveway and I could escape the extreme awkwardness. I reached hurriedly for the door handle but my hand fell into air. I looked up in surprise and noted that before I could even register it, Jared had managed to get out of his side of the truck and open mine.

"Werewolf speed." He said to my surprised look.

I avoided his held out hand and jumped to the ground. "Uh huh."

I kept walking and his hands came out to rest on my shoulders, stopping me from moving any further. "How do you know that I'm lying, huh?" He accused.

"How do I know you're telling the truth?" I countered back, shrugging his arms off my shoulder and walking up the porch steps.

"I'll show you!"

"Alright, be sure to call me up when there's a full moon." I babbled in sarcastic excitement.

He groaned. "Kim…"

I ignored him. "Emily?" I called, walking in as I usually saw Jared do. I found her, Sam and Lakota all gathered in the living room.

"You got here fast." Sam noted, eyeing my clothes and seemingly holding back a smile on his serious face. "Hi Jared." He called out to the empty hallway.

The door slammed and Jared entered, smiling like a madman. "Hey Sam, how's it?" I was shocked. How did they hear each other from that far apart? Jared, as if he read my mind, put a hand on my shoulder and laughed. "Werewolf hearing, remember?"

I watched Sam and Emily turn to each other in horror before I shut my eyes and groaned. "Enough with the werewolf stuff!" I complained. "Sam, do me a favour and check Jared into the mental hospital or something? I'd do it myself but I really need to go. Come on Lakota."

Jared offered us a ride home and I begrudgingly accepted. This ride was better, filled with friendly chatter. Jared didn't make any inappropriate comments to make me feel uncomfortable and I felt as though we were lifelong friends. It was a nice feeling, a good feeling.

He pulled up to my house and opened my door for me again. This time I thanked him, and took the hand that he offered to help both me and Lakota down. I noticed how happy he was now, much different than earlier when he ran off shaking. "Thank you for the ride, really." I smiled up at him as Jeff opened the door and pulled Lakota into his arms.

It had stopped raining, so we were standing outside my house on the front step. "Anytime." He offered, opening his arms.

He wanted a hug, I could tell by the eyebrow that he raised at my reluctance. Despite the awkwardness that this gesture will cause, I complied, throwing my arms around his waist and locking my fingers together.

I heard Jared's content sigh and I pressed my face into his shirt. Something touched the top of my head, I'm pretty sure it was his lips, but I didn't mention it as I smiled shyly in goodbye before shutting the door and biting my lip, trying to hold back my contentment, feeling like a little girl with her first crush.

And that's when I realised what I had to do.

I thundered upstairs with my heart in my throat nervously, throwing off Jared's clothes and hiding them under my bed, secretly hoping he'd forget about them. Then I threw on my own jeans, a long sleeve shirt and a massive hoodie that I had taken from my brother's closet one time and put my frizzed out hair in a pathetic bun.

And then I left to take the five minute walk over to Jacob's house.

I got there, suddenly afraid that he was still mad at me. But bravely, I knocked on the door and held my breath.

Billy answered and suddenly I got even more nervous. "Well hello, you must be Kim?" He asked, holding out his hand to shake. But there was a look in his eye, a look that showed me he really knew who I was. I shook his hand once with both of mine.

"Yes sir, I am. Is Jake home?"

Just then, he appeared in the doorway of what I assumed to be his room, judging by the way his hair was sticking up everywhere. His eyes brightened when he saw me. "Kim!"

Billy politely wheeled out of the way and I moved past his wheelchair towards Jake. "I'm sorry!" We both said at the same time. He came up towards me and his lips went in for a kiss. I turned my head at the last second so he caught my cheek and gave him a pointed look and subtly gestured towards Billy.

They both chuckled at the same time and I blushed. "Can we talk outside?" I murmured.

He wasn't fazed. He didn't even look suspicious or worried. "Sure!" He said like his normal, cheerful self. We stepped out the door and he sat on the edge of his porch, patting the spot beside him. But I stood silently, regretfully, knowing I wasn't going to be there long. He gazed at me, one long, hard look and suddenly his whole face changed. "So that's it?"

My heart fell out of my throat and dropped all the way down into my butt when I realised how well he knew me already. "Jacob…"

"That's it? We're done, over?" He whispered pitifully. "It's Jared, right?"

I wasn't going to lie to him. "Partly. But you know what, most of this is me." I told him truthfully. "I- God, Jake. You have no idea how I'm feeling. I need to figure things out for me, but mostly for you too. You don't want me, not like this."

"What do you mean, like this?"

"I really, really like you. I honestly and truly do. But then Jared comes back and all of a sudden, I can't take my eyes off of him again. But Jacob, you are always my first choice. And right now, I need to be me. I don't want to have choices to be made." I pleaded with him. "I need you, though, Jake. Please don't be angry with me."

"Don't do this." He whispered, standing up and taking my hands. "Kim please, I'll do anything. I can be better. We'll hang out all the time. I'll try not to get so jealous…" I watched in horror as a tear fell down the corner of his eye. "Please, don't walk away from me."

I wiped it, watching as he leant into my touch like it was the softest feather in the world. "Jacob I'm not walking away. We can be friends, like before."

"There was never a before, Kim. We can't be friends like before because we were never just friends and you know it. This is it, Kim. This is us, there's no other way. We can't be friends. I won't be able to sit around and call you a buddy while you and Jared play tongue tag in front of my face!"

"This isn't about Jared! This whole thing is about me, it's about us! I don't want to be with Jared, I just want completely platonic relationships with both of you!" I cried.

More tears, from both of us. "Well you can't always have what you want, Kim. There is nothing platonic about your relationship with Jared, damn it Kim, I've seen it! You promised! I thought you weren't like that, I don't know why I thought different."

"Jake, it's not like that!" I argued. "This isn't about Jared. I told you that, it's about me! Please, we can be friends, I know it!"

Jake wiped away all of his tears and his pleading eyes hardened. "It doesn't work like that, and maybe you should have thought about that before you came here and crushed my heart. Go home, Kim. I don't want you here. Go home, don't come back and never talk to me again."

"No Jake, please-"

"Go!" He roared.

I obeyed, walking backwards off of his porch and keeping eye contact. "I-I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." I whispered before he slammed his front door shut and I flinched before running away in tears.

And then it started raining again.

Fuck, my, life.

I didn't stop the whole way home, not even to catch my breath. And when I got into my room, I grabbed my radio, which was playing some stupid, cheesy love song about love and soul mates and I threw it across the room so hard that it hit the wall and shattered, the stupid song skipping and drowning out.

Good riddance, nothing is ever as simple as a song says.

* * *

When morning came, I reluctantly got in the car with my brother, who knew all about what happened, and went to school. But the thing was, I couldn't concentrate on anything that was happening in class so it ended up actually being a waste of my time.

When lunch came, I was a nervous wreck. I knew that I couldn't sit at my usual table and that I was going to sit alone, but I still didn't want to see the haunted, betrayed and angry faces of my former friends, especially Jacob.

I managed to avoid looking over there, until I was out of the lunch line and scanning the crowd for an empty table. I couldn't find one, but I did find the faces of Jake, Summer, Embry and Quil.

Jacob looked, to say the least, horrible. Summer looked angry and was probably glaring at the back of my head when I wasn't looking because when I turned around, she was still glaring and it looked like she had been for a while. Quil looked upset with me, but not on his own accord, more because of his best friend and girlfriend.

But Embry caught my eye and he tentatively smiled at me. And for that one smile, I was forever grateful.

I decided that, since there were no empty seats, I was going to go outside. So I went to turn around when someone caught my arm, surprising me. I knew who it was, because of the heat, but the suddenness made me jump. "Woah there." Jared chuckled.

"You scared me." I accused moodily.

He frowned. "What's wrong?"

"Jake and I broke up." I mumbled as he steered me and my tray over to where Paul was sitting. He gave me a smile of comradeship and I waved to him.

Jared gave me a huge grin. "Yeah I heard about that! That's too bad."

"Yeah I can tell you're torn up about it." I muttered sarcastically. "So how's being a werewolf these days? I thought that last night was a full moon but then I realised it wasn't."

"Wow, aren't you just a sour bitch today." Paul commented, earning himself a smack from Jared.

"Don't call her that." He chided in a voice that made me seem that he didn't really care. I shrugged and started picking my sandwich to bits. "Oh hey Kim," Jared commented, leaning forward. "I'm really glad that you chose me. I meant it when I said that Jake wasn't the right guy for you."

I looked at him incredulously, and he gave me a smile. "I didn't choose you!" I yelled angrily. "And actually, Jared, I don't think we should be friends anymore. You're rude, pushy and obnoxious and even though you have a really pretty smile, I don't think I want to hang around you anymore. Please, refrain from following me like you always do when I tell you not to."

And I left my lunch, storming out of the cafeteria and fuming all the way home, where I proceeded to throw myself onto my bed and cry my eyes out.

**A/N: And they finally kiss. Don't hurt me. That's all I have to say, it had to be done.**


	7. Just Because

**A/N: I'm going to apologize because this is long overdue, shorter than usual and a little bit overwhelming for me. I'm slow, I'm sorry.**

**BTW: JACOB IS A SOPHOMORE IN THIS STORY. I know a lot of people pointed out that I screwed up in the first couple of chapters and mixed up his age, but I couldn't decide when I wanted this story to take place. So he's in the tenth grade.**

**And if you haven't already noticed, I changed my penname. Sorry if it caused any confusion. Enjoy!**

_3 months later._

"Where's my left shoe?!" I hollered down the hallway to my brother.

Jeff's head appeared out of his bedroom door. "I wouldn't know, Kim. Isn't it with the right shoe?"

I sighed. "Wow, Jeff. Why didn't I think of that? You know, you are so smart it's unbearable sometimes. The right one is currently on my foot. My left foot is currently wearing a sock. Do the math. Just, never mind. I'll find it myself." He mumbled something and shut the door again. "Lakota, have you stolen one of my shoes again?"

I heard her laughter, muffled by the large spoonful of cereal shoved into her mouth. "Maybe."

"Well…Where is it?"

She giggled. "It's at Jared's."

I rolled my eyes. "Stop lying, now where is it really?" I asked condescendingly.

Lakota broke into full peals of laughter again. "I'm not. I left it under Jared's bed when I went there for dinner yesterday."

I looked into her twinkling, mischievous eyes and realised that she was, one hundred percent, telling the truth. I swung my leg back and tipped the chair over in anger, a loud bang following it and my eyes brimming with tears. "Why?! Why would you do that, you stupid brat!"

Her laughter stopped and she immediately burst into tears. "B-because Jared me to!" She wailed. "W-when I was at E-Emily's!" Snot dropped out of her nose and despite my better judgement, I wiped it with my sleeve and hauled her into my arms.

"I'm sorry I called you a brat." I murmured as she sobbed into my shoulder with her snot, drool and tears slopping itself all over my good shirt. "Don't cry anymore. It's okay, I have other shoes."

Lakota shook her head, smearing her access drippings more profoundly into the fabric of my shirt. "You have to go get that one!" She cried. "Or else, Jared'll be mad at me!"

I stroked her hair in comfort before patronizing her. "I don't know, baby. I haven't spoken one word to Jared since October."

"Please? For me." She mumbled sadly. "Please Kimmie."

Oh boy, here goes nothing. "Fine." I agreed shortly. "But I won't be happy about it at all."

Her face, alight with happiness and still watery with tears, beamed up at me. She leaned down and blew her nose on the front of my shirt. "Come on Kim, we have to go now!" She babbled excitedly, oblivious to my disgust. "Jeffy, we need to leave!"

"No wait! I need to change my shirt!" I called after her bounding form.

I'd never been in his house before, but I know where his room is. I've seen him leaning out of it and I can tell it's his room.

The curtains just scream "Jared."

Yeah I'm pathetic. Shut up.

"I'm not going in alone. Lakota you made this mess, now help me fix it." I complained.

"No!" She stuck her tongue out at me.

"Lakota!" I cried.

"Kim!"

Jeff sighed and unlocked my door, reaching across and opening it. "Just go, Kim. You're acting like you're five years old. You're a big girl."

I mumbled a swear word under my breath and got out of the car, palms sweaty and heart pounding. Three tiny, wooden steps and I was at the door. I lifted my hand and made it into a fist, fingers shaking and I rapped three times.

"Oh look no one's home!" I said after three seconds of waiting. Turning around, I got down one step when the door swung open. Damn. I turned back around, expecting to meet those same blue eyes I'd been dreaming about all my life.

I did. But they didn't belong to the person I thought they would. They were on the tanned, beautiful face of a small, slender woman. She was wearing one of those pant suits and her hair was all up in a tight bun. She was beautiful. She was Jared's clone.

And his mother. I nearly threw up. "Hi, can I help you?" She asked quizzically.

I choked on my tongue. "I'm here to uh, see J-Jared."

"He's asleep dear, but you can just go right on up quickly. I really have to hurry off to work. It was nice meeting you… I'm sorry I didn't get your name."

I blushed. "It's Kim."

"Oh we-…oh! You're Kim? Well I guess it's an extreme pleasure. I've heard a lot about you." She babbled excitedly.

"I bet." I murmured so she couldn't hear me.

And to my surprise, she stepped right towards me and her arms went around my neck and she pushed me tight against her and squeezed with from what I can tell all her might. "I'm so glad to finally, finally meet you. I've heard nothing but good things about you, Kim. You make my son very happy and you're way prettier than he described. Go straight on up sweetheart, and take your time." And with one more tightening of her arms, she released me, holding me at arm's length. "I have a feeling we'll be meeting again very soon."

I blushed, my throat closed up and I had to cough before I could speak again. "It was nice meeting you too, Mrs. Cameron."

"Please, call me Linda. You're practically family anyway." And then before I could move, breath or speak again, because my brain had shut down in shock, she moved away, heels clicking against the wet pavement as she walked to the SUV parked on the side of the road. I turned to watch her leave, mouth gaping as she waved merrily from the window of her car.

And then I realised the rain left on the porch was soaking into my sock on the foot that my sister insisted I left shoeless.

Without thinking, I scrambled into the house and slammed the door shut behind me. My foot was cold and numb and I was now standing inside Jared's house. Completely alone, with Jared's snore vibrating the walls from his bedroom upstairs.

The house was spotless. I honestly mean it, everything was white and there was no dirt anywhere. It didn't even look like a speck of dust fell from the air. I took off my shoe and my wet sock, afraid to dirty anything up and slowly made my way up the stairs. I passed through the cream painted hallway, admiring the pictures of Jared and his family that hung along the walls as I followed the snores to the door at the end of the hall.

The door was halfway open. Did I dare?

Maybe I should just knock and wait… But I already know that not even an earthquake could wake Jared up, especially in History. Besides, I've got nothing to lose right? Maybe my dignity… But it's all good, I'll just duck under the bed, grab the shoe and get out.

Unless there's disgusting things under his bed… He is a boy. And if I don't hurry up, he's going to wake up and see me standing here like an idiot and we're all going to be late for school.

Alright, this is it. I took a deep breath and slid through the gap in the door without pushing it any more than it was.

I was shocked at what I saw. The room was almost completely empty. There was a wooden dresser off to the side, which was shut tight with no clothes hanging out of it or anything and then there was a black iron, four poster bed in the middle of the room, headboard to the wall, with white sheets and a white comforter and four white, fluffy pillows. It also held Jared, shirt off, in his boxers, head touching the backboard and feet still dangling off the edge of the bed. Half of the blankets were hanging off the mattress and touching the floor.

And right at the foot of the bed, waiting for its owner to come and claim it, was my left Vann slip-on. I rushed forward and in my haste, I tripped over one of the pillows that had been thrown off the bed and I went flying, hitting my head off the post with a bang and falling on top of my shoe.

That one damn shoe was causing me so much trouble. It's a shoe for crying out loud!

And then my head started to throb. I felt like I had internal bleeding or brain injury. "Ow." I whined. But far from being completely distracted, I grabbed my shoe, stood up fast even though it gave me a head rush and made my way to the door.

And I froze. The room was too silent. Dread creeping into my stomach, I slowly started to turn around, hoping and praying that he was still asleep. I blinked once and his eyes met mine. "Kim?" He asked groggily. "Am I dreaming again?"

Despite myself, I smiled at him. "No, I'm actually here. Sorry, I just came to get my shoe and your mom let me in. I was just leaving though, go back to sleep."

"Please stay." He asked in a hopeless voice that made me feel like he knew I was going to leave anyway. I didn't blame him though, I mean, I haven't spoken to him in three months. I guess I was a little bit harsh with him, I think he honestly believed that I chose him.

I guess breaking up with Jacob and then hanging out with Jared the day after was leading him on. But I didn't know that at the time. And if I hadn't yelled at him, I'd probably have friends at school right now, seeing as Summer isn't speaking to me anymore. And I guess the trio is self-explanatory… Although, Embry always smiles at me when the others aren't looking. As for my relationship with Paul, it's a little bit love and hate. Or mostly hate on my part, and a love for annoying me on his.

At least I have someone to distract me in art class, so I don't have to listen to Summer whisper things about me behind my back. Literally.

So all and all, I guess I owe Jared a little bit of my time, seeing as though I've been ignoring every word he says to me the past three months. I mean, is it really necessary to snap at him when he asks me if he can borrow a pencil? Or give him the cold shoulder when he offers to help me reach the books at the top of my locker that are no longer accessible to me?

No. Which is why I dropped my shoe back to the floor and went to sit on the edge of his bed. I thought his eyeballs about popped out of his head in shock. He seemed at a loss for words, so he just said, "Hi."

I smiled back at him and tucked a piece of my straightened hair behind my ear. "Hi."

He opened his mouth to say something, but it was like my ears were clogged with water because his lips were moving but all I could see was the way they curved when he emphasized a certain word and the way his strong jaw moved. I followed his neck down to his torso, he was shirtless and he was hot. I mean, I could feel his body heat but I could see it too, if that makes sense.

I wanted to run my finger over his abs, which trailed into a long v that should have tucked into the waistband of his pants.

But he was just wearing boxers. And apparently, that thing that boys get every morning…Actually happens.

It took me a good three seconds to realise what I was staring at and to look away, shutting my eyes and blushing red like a tomato. "I didn't see that, I didn't see that." I muttered.

"Kim, what's wrong?" He asked me hesitantly.

It took me a minute to force the sentence out of my mouth. "You-you're not wearing any pants."

"Does that make you uncomfortable?" He asked in a completely calm and amused voice.

I nodded my head. "A little bit, yes."

The bed sprung up as his weight lifted from it. "Then I'll put some pants on. I might as well get dressed, I suppose I have to go to school sometime." He answered and I heard the drawer open. "You're lucky you're here, because I don't usually wear boxers to school. I go commando most of the time." He was sharing this information with me as if it was the natural thing to do.

He had no shame, apparently. And then I remembered my brother was waiting for me outside. "Oh fuck… I'll be right back!" And I dashed out of the room, shamelessly taking a nice peek at Jared's butt before so. And when I got to the door and swung it open, the car was gone and there was a note lying on the doormat.

_Kim, _it read.

_Lakota's plan worked. Don't get mad, see you after school._

Well that was a waste. I could be watching Jared getting undressed right now ..

Yeah, I'm pathetic. Three months cold turkey and I still haven't gotten over Jared. Which is why instead of just leaving, I trekked all the way back upstairs to where he was waiting, sitting on the middle of his bed with his legs stretched out in a pair of jeans and a tight black v-neck, all content and sexy. That and my foot was still bare because my sock was soaked and I had left the shoe on Jared's floor.

But when he patted the bed, I joined him again, because I was weak and pathetic. So I sat across from him cross legged while he shifted his legs open so I could actually have room on the bed because he takes up most of the space. It sounds like an awkward position and believe me, it was.

"Hey Kim, why is your foot bare?" He asked me, nudging my foot with his.

I shrugged. "My sock got wet because my sister forced me to wear one shoe over here. I can't believe you got her scheming with you."

"Well, it can't be all bad. It worked, didn't it?" He murmured, his sparkling blue eyes boring into mine.

I nodded, mesmerized. Oh boy, I was going to regret this tomorrow, maybe even later. But hell, what is it that they say, that means seize the day? It came to my head as I moved forward, legs on either side of his hips, straddling him. "Carpe Diem." I whispered.

Jared was obviously distracted, because any other time he would have heard me. "What did you say?" He asked me.

"Who cares?" Was my reply before I grabbed the sides of his face and kissed him full on the mouth.

Before you say, _wow Kim, what are you doing_? Let me just tell you that you have never been face to face with Jared and you've never been under his spell. Yes, spell. He's a wizard or something because every time I see him, I just want to kiss him. And normally with any other guy, I would not being the one making the first move, even if we were in an official relationship.

And that's why I kissed him first. Let me tell you, I'm glad I did it. Because the last time I kissed him was the day I broke up with Jacob and that was about three months ago. And believe me I haven't stopped thinking about it.

His hands went to my hips and he rolled me over so that I was lying on the bed below him. The way my heart was racing and my palms were sweating, it was like I hadn't had any human contact in years. His mouth started to lift from mine and I grabbed the back of his head and tried to keep him still.

He had morning breath… I dropped from the arch in my back, slumping into the comfortable bed. "Why is it that every time I see you, we end up kissing?"

"I didn't initiate it this time. Does this mean you're speaking to me again?" He teased me,

I sighed. "Don't count on it."

"I don't really mind if you don't speak to me, if this is the reward I get."

"Shut up."

"I will if you promise me you'll talk to me again." He proposed

Well, I missed him anyways. "On one condition… I get to borrow a pair of your socks." I grinned. "My foot is cold."

"I don't know if they're going to fit you."

"I'll just roll them up as many times as I can. You owe me! This was the deal for me being your friend again." I accused. He sighed, rolling over and getting up off the bed, silently walking over to his dresser and throwing a pair of perfectly rolled up socks at me. "Did I say something wrong?"

"No." He said shortly.

"Don't lie to me, Jared Jonathan Cameron. What did I do?"

He turned to me sharply. "How do you know my middle name?"

I blushed deeply. "Not important. Now tell me, please Jared."

"I- uh thought that since you came over here and uh kissed me like that, that you wanted to be, uh, more than friends and that uh you, uh believed me about beings a, well, you know, were-"

"Don't say it!" I exclaimed.

He blinked. "What, were-?" He cut off at my sharp look. "Well why not? It's not a dirty word."

"No, it's not. It's a word that just screams insanity. I've spent a long time trying to convince myself that you're normal, but that word is not helping."

"This is ridiculous. Why can't you just trust me, Kim? This isn't how it's supposed to work, you're supposed to trust me immediately."

"This isn't about trust, this is about you being a lunatic and claiming you're a werewolf!"

"I'm not claiming it, I am one! And so are Sam and Paul, and Embry's next, I've seen the symptoms myself!"

"Really?" I bit sarcastically. "And I'm going to guess Jake is next after him?"

He threw his hands over his head. "Probably! He's a direct descendant of the last Alpha in the Pack! And I'm going to assume that Quil's after him, because the three amigos never go anywhere without each other!"

The walls in the room rang with tense silence. A few things started to finally fall in front of my face, as Jared's face avoided gaze and I blanched. "You're jealous." I accused, stunned.

"What does that have to do with me being a werewolf?" He mumbled miserably.

"You're jealous!" I cried. "Why are you jealous?! Jared, you're being ridiculous."

* * *

I ran as fast as I could. I ran until my sides hurt, until my head throbbed and the blood of my pulsing heart was racing so fast I could hear it in my ears.

I kept running, past the parking lot and into the school doors, bowling over a shocked Summer and charging through Embry and Jacob. I ran to my locker, where I finally slammed my palms on it and bent my head down, gasping for air.

_Because I love you._

**A/N: I beta myself, all mistakes are my own.**


	8. AN: I'm Back!

**Hey guys… I'm alive… **

**Surprise! I'm so sorry that I basically fell off the face of the Earth… My life got complicated; I've been working really hard on graduating (which I just did, yes!) even though I've been having 2350 different kinds of medical problems. **

**Oh and I'm currently on my 3****rd**** laptop.**

**But enough with the excuses, I just wanted to apologize and tell you that I'm still planning on finishing this story if you want me to! If you don't want to read it anymore, I totally understand but hey, let me know.**

**And HI! Glad to be back!**


	9. Not On Crack

**A/N: I just wanted to let you know that I am overwhelmed by the amount of people who begged me to keep writing. I love you guys above and beyond. This chapter is definitely a lot shorter than usual, because I wanted to get it out and because I'm starting my exams and I haven't had a lot of time to write.**

**But thankfully, next week is summer and I will have all the time in the world to write for you guys! And now, what you've all been waiting for…**

My cell phone rang in my pocket for the fifteenth time today.

_Stupid Jared, why can't he just get the hint and leave me the hell alone? _I don't want anything to do with him and his stupid mind games.

The vibrating stopped, and then picked back up again. Grumbling, I pressed the green button and held the phone to my ear. "I don't want to talk to you, Jared! Leave me alone and stop calling me!"

"Kim, come on! Just let me show you. I can prove-" I hung up the phone. I was _not_ in the mood to deal with his whole "I'm a werewolf" scheme. Thankfully he didn't call back again and I managed to finish my homework before turning off the light and crawling into bed.

I was mentally exhausted and I was out like a light the minute my head hit the pillow.

_Tap, tap, tap.  
_

I rolled over and threw the pillow over my head, trying to drown out the familiar sound of rain falling on my window. The wind howled and I swear it sounded just like my name. "Kim!"

Oh, it _was _my name. Someone was at my window…

Once I was fully conscious , I rolled my eyes. Gee, I _wonder_ who that could be. Maybe if I don't move and pretend to be asleep, he'll go away. "I know you're awake, Kim. I can see you moving." Grumbling, I shot out of bed, opened up the window and dragged him inside.

"Shut up, Jared. Do you want to wake up my whole house?" I sighed. "What do you want this time?"

"Well, I had to come here, because you wouldn't pick up my calls."

"There was a reason for that." I muttered.

Suddenly, he got down on his knees and took my hands in his. "Kim, please. You are literally killing me. Can you please just do one thing for me? Just trust me and come with me and I promise, after that, if you don't want to talk to me anymore, I will never talk to you again. I just need to show you."

I silently weighed my options. "So if I do this, you'll leave me alone for good?" He nodded. Good, because that's what I want, right? "Alright, what do you want me to do?"

"Come outside with me." And because I'm an idiot, I did.

What I saw would change my life forever.

Do you remember that saying, ignorance is bliss?

It's like that scene in the Matrix where Neo is given the choice to take the red pill or the blue pill. He knows that if he takes the red pill, he will never be able to go back into his perfectly ignorant life. He'll never be able to forget the truth. If he takes the blue pill, he can remain in the dark forever.

Of course you would want to take the red pill, right? When you're offered an opportunity to have _more_, isn't it human nature to want to know?

And then afterwards, I bet he wish he took the blue pill. I bet everyone wishes they chose to remain ignorant. But you can't go back after you know. You can't forget.

You can't un-see what has been seen.

"Kim?" There was a voice in my head. "Kim, wake up." A familiar voice… "Jared what happened?"

"I don't know!" He sounded panicked. "I showed her my wolf form and she just passed out!"

Another voice piped in. "Gee, Jared. You showed her your wolf form and she passed out? I wonder why." Of course that was Paul.

"She hit her head." Jared mentioned quietly. Oh, did I really? No wonder my head was throbbing. "Kim, can you hear me?"

"Mmm." I mumbled. "Where am I?"

"At Sam and Emily's house."

Sam… Who was a werewolf also? I shot up, ignoring that fact that my head felt like the Little Drummer Boy was sitting on my brain and got to my feet. "I have to go." I spat out, panicked. I made it two feet before I collapsed. Jared's warm arms caught me. "Get off of me you freak!"

"Kim please, hear me out."

"I don't want to talk to you, you lunatic! Jesus Christ you aren't even human!"

Surprisingly, he laughed. "I told you I wasn't on drugs."

"Yeah well just because you're not on crack doesn't mean that this is suddenly okay!" My heart stopped. "You… My father was killed by a wolf! Oh my God, you killed him didn't you?"

"I promise I will explain everything to you if you just sit down!"

So I sat down and Sam explained everything to me. My father was killed when he had just turned into a wolf. But not by him, not by any wolves or werewolves, he was killed by a vampire. The police blamed it on wolves, because Sam had been spotted around the area so many times around that time.

Vampires exist. Werewolves exist. Jared was a werewolf.

It was genetic, apparently. It happened to the boys who had the werewolf gene when there were vampires in the area. The Cullen's were actually vampires. The legends were real, not just a silly superstition.

"But…" I rubbed my eyes in exhaustion. "Why are you telling me this? If no one knows and no one is supposed to know, why am I allowed to know?"

Sam and Paul looked at Jared. "There's another legend that's real. There's a reason why Taha Aki loved the Third Wife more than any of his other wives. He imprinted on her."

"Am I supposed to know what that means?" I muttered.

"When you're a wolf, and you see _her_, you automatically know that she's the one that you're supposed to be with. She's the one that you are willing to protect no matter what and you would be anything for her. You would be her friend, her brother, her lover, anything she needed." He looked me in the eyes and I just knew what he was going to say. "I imprinted on you, Kim."

His words hit me right in the gut and tears came to my eyes. Of course, why didn't I see it before? He didn't like me, or become interested in me because I was pretty or smart or interesting. He only noticed me because some stupid gene told him to. "So, because you imprinted on me, you'll be whatever I want? Do whatever I want?"

"Yes, Kim. Anything you want."

He reached out towards me and I jerked away. "I want you to leave me alone."

"Kim, why? I don't understand…" His face was heartbroken. My stomach hurt.

"I don't want to be with you because of some stupid thing called imprinting. I've always liked you, Jared, no matter how mean you were to me and how much you ignored me. But I can't look past this, at least not yet. I can't look past the fact that you're forced to like me. It's not fair. So leave me alone. If you want me to be happy, leave me the hell alone."

I stood up to leave, and Paul offered to drive me home. "I'm so sorry." Jared whispered as I passed him, with his face in his hands. I ignored him and walked out the door and into Paul's car.

We were driving. It was three in the morning. "Kim, I know you probably don't want to hear this but hear me out okay? I like you. That may not seem like much, but I don't like anyone so it's a pretty big deal. Don't punish Jared because he was an ignorant fool before. Just look at it this way, look at the imprinting as God giving Jared a push in the right direction. Just think this through before you ban him from your life. Really think about what you want."

I couldn't think of anything to say, so I got out of the car. "Bye Paul." I whispered. "I'll see you around."

"I really hope so." Was his reply before he drove off.

* * *

A week passed. A week of being miserable. A week that consisted of getting up, going to school, coming home, going to sleep and eating if I remembered to. Seeing Jared's miserable face was just torture to my poor heart. But I knew it was just the imprinting talking, the imprinting that was making me feel this way.

Embry had disappeared. Apparently he was out with the flu, but I knew what was happening. He was turning into _one of them_. Poor Embry, one day he was going to fall in love with a girl who he didn't even know. I wondered to myself when it was going to happen, when he was going to change.

I got my answer on Tuesday morning, when I excused myself from class to go to the bathroom. I was walking down the hallway, minding my own business when I saw someone sitting on the ground, against the lockers, groaning. It was Embry, he looked terrible.

I immediately rushed over to him and crouched down. "Embry, can you hear me? Are you okay?" His eyes were closed and he was sweating and moaning.

"No. I shouldn't have come back, I feel awful. I guess I have the flu still. I guess it's worse than I thought." His hands were trembling with what he thought were cold chills, but I knew better.

"Stay here, I'm going to get Jared." I ran off down the hall to his class and burst through the door. The whole class's eyes shot to me, curiously. I flushed, out of breath. "Jared. Emergency. Now." He got up, worried and followed me out the door.

"Kim, what's wrong? Are you hurt?"

When I heard his voice, my whole body felt so much better. Being without him hurt me more than I realized. "It's not me, it's Embry." I led him to where Embry was still curled up, shaking and sweating. "Is he going to change?" I whispered.

"Yes, it's time." Jared whispered back. "Embry man, I need you to come with me outside."

"Why?" He groaned. "I don't want to get up."

"Just trust me." Jared said, helping him to his feet and putting Embry's arm around his shoulder. "Thank you, Kim." He said to me. "Go back to class, I'll see you later."

I nodded and did what he said, sitting back in my seat quietly. I had no idea what the teacher was talking about. I was just worried about Embry.

* * *

A few days later, I was walking over to Emily's to pick up Lakota. Out on the front porch sat two figures. They were Paul and Embry. A smile immediately appeared on my face, I hadn't seen any of the "pack" since Embry had changed. "Embry!" I called out and he looked over my way and smiled right back at me.

"Hi Kim, how are you?" He asked.

I tackled him across the waist and squeezed him. "How are you holding up?"

"Better than I was, thanks. Although I could do without having to listen to Jared mope about you 24/7."

"Amen." Paul piped in gruffly and reached over to ruffle my hair. "You look like shit, still. Are you done being stubborn? Have you come here to make up with Jared yet?"

I rolled my eyes at him. "No." I snapped. "I'm here to pick up my sister. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to my house before my mother gets home. Apparently she has some news that she wants to tell us."

I collected my sister and said goodbye to the boys and Emily. Thankfully Sam and Jared were not around. Apparently they were doing "patrol." I didn't know what that meant and I didn't want to. I refused to let myself care about werewolf terminology.

I opened the front door to where my mother was sitting at the table with my brother, waiting for me. I sat down with them silently. I had no idea what she was going to say, and my heart pumped anxiously. "Kimberly, as you know it's been a struggle for me to support you guys since your father died." She started off and I nodded along with her. "So I have some good news. I got a promotion."

"Wow Mom, that's great." I muttered. That just meant more shifts and less time home and more of my time spent taking care of Lakota.

"That's not all of it. I got transferred." She paused, calculating my facial expression. I left it blank. "To Portland."

"Wait, Portland as in _Oregon_?"

"Yes, in Oregon. And you know that my sister lives there and she just had a baby, so she's off of work and has offered to let us live there and take care of Lakota while I work and you go to school."

My head was spinning. "But Jeff's job is here. Callie is here."

"He's not coming with us, Kim. He's staying here and Callie is going to get a part time job and move in, and they're going to take care of the rent." I opened my mouth to say something but she stopped me. "Before you say anything, I want you to know that you have a choice. You can come with me and go to school in Portland or you can stay here and live with Jeff and Callie."

I stared at her. Moving away would be the perfect way to get over Jared, to get him out of my life and be free of him forever. I could start over, be someone new. I could change my whole identity.

And yet… "This is all so overwhelming." I muttered. "I need to go for a walk and think, okay?"

She gave me a surprisingly warm and understanding smile. "Take all the time you need. I don't leave until next weekend."

I put on my jacket and stepped into the nippy air. I couldn't process all this information. My mother was moving to another state, with my sister. I had the option to move with her. My brother was staying behind. My family was being split up even more.

I sat down on a large rock, a little ways off from First Beach and closed my eyes.

I felt him before I saw him, I felt his heat and to be honest, I was kind of expecting him. It seemed like every time I wanted to be alone, he showed up. "Kim, what are you doing out? It's dark." Jared said. I was quiet. "Kim? Are you okay?"

"No."

He sat down next to me and I got chills. "What's wrong?"

"My mom is moving to Portland."

He was abnormally still and silent, I couldn't even hear him breathing. "You're moving to Portland?"

"I don't know."

"But you said…"

I looked up at him. His eyes were heartbroken, he looked absolutely shattered. And I just couldn't do it. "I can't go with her. I'm staying here." It was the decision that I knew I was going to make. I already knew that I didn't want to go to Portland. Not only was La Push my home, but it was where all my memories were, all my friends. "I can't leave you." I whispered.

It was true. No matter what kind of freaky supernatural thing it was that was making me feel like this, I couldn't be away from Jared. I couldn't live my life knowing that he was with someone else, or that he was heartbroken over me.

I would live my life forever seeing him in everyone else. I didn't want to live my life missing him.

"I'm not going to force us, Kim." He whispered to me. "If you want to go to Portland to get away from me, to get away from this bond, then I have to let you go. I want you to be happy."

My harsh realization stopped my life in its tracks and completely changed its course. "I can't be happy without you, Jared."

"Don't." His voice was absolutely pained. "Don't pretend that you feel that way about me just because of the way I feel about you. Don't pretend that you're in love with me."

"But I am." I whispered. "I am in love with you Jared. I've been in love with you forever. I guess I just imprinted on you first."

His reaction was startling, because the atmosphere was so eerily silent. His booming laughter filled my ears and my heart with warmth. I hadn't heard him laugh in so long, the sound made me feel a thousand times lighter. "You are so confusing, Kim. I don't understand your train of thought one bit. I have no idea how that beautiful mind of yours works."

"Guess you're going to have to learn how to figure it out."

The smile that lit up his face was absolutely breathtaking. It was like the sun was shining at night. "So you're staying?"

"I'm staying. How could I not?" And instead of kissing me like I thought, he stroked my face with his thumb and closed his eyes. "So what does this mean for us?"

"Let me be your friend. Let me make up for all the years that I could have gotten to know you. Let me take this slowly. I want every stage with you, Kim. I want an awkward first date, kissing goodnight on the front porch, giving you my jacket and calling you the next day even though I'm technically supposed to wait three. I want to throw rocks at your window and sneak out together. I want to buy you flowers and let you know how much you mean to me, because you mean everything to me."

"Can you do one thing for me though?" I breathed. "Right now, can you forget about everything and just kiss me?"

"I've been waiting for you to ask me to kiss you for months." He replied huskily.

And he did kiss me, he kissed me and I felt it down to my toes. And I knew that I would never regret my decision to stay, I would never regret my decision to pick Jared.

Because it was fate, because it was destiny.


	10. Just Another Manic Monday

**A/N: I told you that I would update soon, didn't I? (: Short and sweet!  
**

It was Monday, I hated Mondays.

But this Monday was made a little bit more bearable, by the fact that Jared's truck was parked in my driveway. More so, it was the fact that Jared was in that truck, hopping out to open the passenger door for me. "Good morning, Kim. You look beautiful this morning, like always."

I bit my lip and blushed, even though I looked absolutely ordinary. "Thank you."

"Did you sleep well?" He asked conversationally as he drove to school.

Considering that you were the star of all my dreams than yes, I slept excellent. "Yes, thank you."

"Good, me too." He was lying. I could tell by the deep purple bags underneath his eyes and the fact that he was stifling a yawn every ten seconds. But he just looked so damn happy that I didn't say anything. "I missed you."

I fumbled with my words, not used to this kind of relationship with Jared. I was used to him not noticing me and being standoffish. "I uh, missed you too."

He smiled at me, a smile that rivaled the sun and everything I was worried about just melted away and I found myself smiling back.

As we pulled into the parking lot, Jared got out of the car and I was about to follow him, when he appeared at my door at an inhuman speed. I took his offered hand and hopped down to the ground, tugging my hand away but he grabbed it back and grasped it tightly. His resolve faltered when he looked at me. "Is this not okay?"

I looked over at Jacob, who was talking to Quil and caught my eye and I frowned to myself. I wish it was different between us… But it isn't. Is it really worth making myself miserable over something I can't change? "This is perfectly fine." I reassured Jared, and myself.

"I'll see you after class." Jared murmured, kissing me on my cheek as he deposited me at my math class. Blushing, I walked into the class, trying to ignore the absolute daggers in my back from Sierra.

"You're just another one of his playthings, you know." She said casually, almost like she wasn't talking to me. "We'll see how long it lasts."

I stood, torn between almost crying and being an idiot and saying something back. I knew her words weren't true, because I was _the one_, but it still hurt. "Oh shut up you egotistical bitch." The words that were said weren't mine, but they were exactly what I was thinking. I found Paul standing next to me, looming over her. "You're just jealous because Kim has more personality and brains in one finger than you do in your entire body. Talk to her again and you'll be sorry."

"That's enough, class." Mrs. Johnson said, but she seemed almost scared of Paul. "Take your seats."

I went to go sit in my normal seat, but Paul grabbed my wrist and dragged me over to where he sat. "Move." He told the kid sitting there and without blinking, he scrambled into my empty desk. "Sit." He commanded me.

I did just that. Even though he didn't talk to me for the rest of the class, I was still convinced that Paul liked me. And that little victory made my day much sweeter.

The rest of my morning classes were uneventful and as I made my way to the lunchroom, I met up with a sullen looking Embry, standing near the doors. It was his first day back since his transformation. "Did you know that I'm not allowed to talk to them?" He muttered to me. "I'm not allowed to hang out with them in case they suspect something, or I give away too much, or I accidentally hurt them."

"If it makes you feel better, I'm not allowed to hang out with them either." I said. It wasn't exactly true, but I knew that if Jared caught me talking to Jacob, he would probably tear his head off.

He smiled sadly at me. "I know, Kim. This secret has a way of condemning you." He took my hand. "Come on, Jared's getting antsy waiting for you. I can hear him complaining to Paul."

"Just don't look at them." I told him. "Don't look at them, and you won't be able to see the betrayal in their eyes and it won't hurt… As much."

"You're a good girl, Kim. You're a really good girl." There was something in his voice that sounded oddly like pity.

I followed closely by his side to our table. He took my advice and didn't glance at them once, and took a seat facing in a different direction. Jared stood up at my arrival, grinning, and pulled out my chair for me. When I sat down, he kissed me on the cheek. "I missed you."

"I missed you too." I told him back and I couldn't even tell if it was the truth or a lie or somewhere in between.

I glanced up from my food and caught eyes with Quil. He was glancing at the back of Embry's head, but met my eyes when he noticed me looking. His eyes said it all. _Why?_

A hand was on my shoulder. "One day." Paul whispered to me. His voice gave me chills, because he was answering my unspoken questions. "One day, they will understand."

"Jacob has a new girlfriend anyway." Embry said. I slowly looked at him. I hadn't seen him with another girl around school. "Bella Swan."

I shot a look at Jared. "Isn't she the one who's dating that vampire?"

"She was, anyway. They left town a little while ago and left her behind." He told me in a low voice. "I knew she was going to get hurt, the minute she got involved with him."

"You never told me they left town." I muttered, feeling oddly out of the loop. I glanced at Jacob and finally noticed something different about him. He wasn't looking at me, he didn't look sad or resigned or angry. He was smiling at something Summer had said. He was happy again.

Jared shrugged, leaning back in his seat. "I don't usually try to make it my business to involve myself or you in anything to do with vampires. Although I do recall the fact that you weren't talking to me at the time and you were convinced that I was on steroids and crack."

"Sometimes I still think that." I muttered.

"She absolutely fell apart when she left him. Sam and I found her in the woods, curled up in a ball and crying his name. She was practically catatonic." Paul piped in. "I started seeing her around the Rez just a while ago, right after Christmas break."

A knot of jealousy filled my stomach and I quickly tried to digest it or drown it by taking a large gulp of water. "Jake has a huge crush on her." Embry piped in almost silently. "But she doesn't see him like that. She's still hung up on the leech."

"Is it the same as a werewolf bond?" I wondered curiously. "Can vampires, for lack of a better word, imprint?"

"No." Jared growled. The other two stayed silent. "Vampires are incapable of feeling a bond like this. The bloodsuckers aren't even alive for fucks sake. They shouldn't even be able to feel what love is." I had obviously hit a sore spot because barely anyone talked for the next twenty minutes.

"I have to go." Paul said, standing up. "See you in art, Kim." He ruffled my hair and I scowled at him.

"Come on, Kim. We should get to history." He grabbed my hand. "You gonna be alright, Embry?" Embry gave a slight nod of his head and Jared bumped him on the shoulder. "If they try to talk to you, just get up and leave. It's better that way."

Poor Embry… I gave him a tight squeeze on the hand before I left.

In History, Jared held my hand under the desks the whole class. It made it even harder to focus on my work than usual. It was warm and he kept rubbing circles on my palm with his thumb. The class flew by, and he left a lingering kiss on my cheek before I went into art.

I sat down at my usual place and someone sat down next to me. Thinking it was Paul, I looked up to say hi. But it wasn't, it was Summer. "Hi Kim." She muttered.

"Hi…" I trailed off. "How are you?"

She shrugged. "I'm alright, how about you?"

"Hey, did you hear that my mom's moving to Portland?" I blurted out. She shook her head and looked at me curiously. "Yeah, she and Lakota are leaving on Saturday morning. She got a big promotion."

"Well, what about you?" She asked almost casually. "Are you staying? Do you need a place? You know my parents… They love you." The last part was offhand and I was quiet with shock.

Was she actually offering to let me stay with her? "I'm actually living with Jeff and Callie…"

She nodded to herself. "That's good then. Well, I'll see you around then." And she went off to sit at her other place.

"You shouldn't be talking to her." Paul murmured to me, sitting down where she just was. "It's only going to get worse when Jacob and Quil join the pack. Quil won't be able to see her anymore. And you will hate yourself for not being able to tell her why."

"So what does this mean?" I muttered. "Does it mean that I can't have any friends other than you guys?"

"There's something you have to understand about this, Kim. It's not just a stage or a phase, it's a lifetime sentence. This is the most intense thing you will ever be involved in and I think you already knew that." He looked at me seriously. "If you didn't want to be condemned, you should have ran off to Portland while you had the chance."

"It hurt." I whispered. "The thought of leaving him forever hurt."

He gave me a grim smile. "I know, and that's what sucks. Even if you have a choice, you will always pick wrong." I will always pick wrong… "You're a good kid, Kim."

That was the second time I had heard that today. Goosebumps popped up all down my arms and I turned away, rubbing them.

* * *

Tuesday to Friday passed by in the exact same fashion. Jared picked me up for school, I went through my classes in a daze that consisted of him, Paul, Embry and sometimes Summer, who made it her mission to have a conversation with me every day in Art before Paul showed up and gave me a disapproving look. He never said anything again, though. I think he felt sorry for me.

All too soon, it was Saturday and Jeff and I were throwing the remaining boxes of stuff into the moving van. There was a sort of numb feeling buzzing in my head, like this wasn't real. The four of us were standing together on the front porch for the last time.

Lakota was crying, her tiny face streaked in tears. "Kim, why won't you come with me?" She cried. "Don't leave me!"

I held her in my arms, heartbroken and shushed her while she cried into my shoulder. "You know I love you. I just have to stay here, I have to. I'm sorry." I rubbed her back. Jeff and my mother were hugging. "I'll see you very soon okay? I promise I will come visit you."

I passed her to my brother and wiped away one of her tears. "Bye Kimmy, I love you."

I attempted a smile and turned towards my mother before I started to cry. We stared at each other for a long minute, awkwardly. "Well, be good Kim." She said and uncharacteristically took me into her arms for a tight hug. "I love you."

"I love you too Mom." And all too soon they were loaded in the car and driving away, waving. "They're really gone…" I trailed off.

"You know you can move there anytime, Kim." Jeff said. He didn't know anything. "You gonna be alright?"

"Yeah." I would be. Once I got my head wrapped around everything that was going on, I would be just fine.

He patted me awkwardly on the arm. "Good, I'm going to pick up Callie and help her pack. I'll be back in a bit."

I made my way up to my room, not mine and Lakota's, just my room and sat down on the bed. There was no one talking, no one yelling, there was no one here. It was empty. Tears filled my eyes and ran down my cheeks until I was sobbing into my hands.

This was it, wasn't it? This thing with Jared was the beginning of the rest of my life. La Push was my past, present and future. I couldn't move on to university in another state, I probably couldn't even take community college classes because even that would be too far away.

I was going to be just like Emily, barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen.

That just made the tears heavier. "Kim?" Someone murmured. My heart leaped into my throat, I didn't hear anyone come in.

"Oh, hi Jared." I croaked, wiping my tears off my face. "What are you doing here?"

"I was running by your house and I heard you…" He trailed off, sitting beside me and taking my hands in his. "What's wrong?"

I sniffled. "They're gone." It was partially the truth.

"I'm really sorry." He said. "I'm sorry that you had to stay here, because of me. I'm sorry that I didn't notice you until now. I'm sorry that it was you." I realized that we were both victims in that moment and that there was nothing either of us could do to change what had happened. "I'll go, if you want."

Did I want him to go? "No, please stay." And of course, because I asked, he did.

He stayed with me for as long as he could, but eventually he had to go on patrol. Instead of leaving me alone, he suggested that I hang out at Emily's until he got back. I wasn't sure when he would be back and I wasn't sure what my curfew was, if I even had one, so I agreed and followed him there.

He was patrolling with Sam, I guess, because they were kissing goodbye when we walked in. When Emily saw me her face lit up, and I found myself mimicking her. Seeing Emily was like seeing a long lost friend. "I'm so glad you're here to keep me company. Would you like to help me bake?"

"I would love to." I said shyly, despite the fact that I've never baked anything in my life. Jared gave me a prize winning smile, a heart stopping kiss and left. I was alone with Emily for the first time. "Can I talk to you about something personal?"

"Of course you can. What's on your mind?" She asked, setting out a few cookie trays.

"Did Sam… Did he give you your scars?"

"He did, yes. He gave them to me by accident though, he was young."

I continued, even though I was feeling uneasy. "Do you ever hate him for it?"

"No." She answered immediately.

"Do you ever hate him for imprinting on you?" I asked before I could stop myself.

She was quiet for a moment, staring in thought at the wall. "Do you know who Leah Clearwater is?" Was the question she asked when she finally spoke. I didn't know what that had to do with this, but then I remembered…

"Wasn't she with Sam, you know, before you?"

"She's my cousin." She informed me. Oh… I understood the story that she was going to tell me before it came out of her mouth. "Sam left her, for me, when he imprinted. Leah was my best friend as well as family and I refused to have anything to do with Sam, for her sake, even though rejecting him was killing me. I loved him right away, I knew that Leah could never begin to understand what we had and I was right."

"And the scars?" I asked gently.

"I wouldn't listen to his explanations and one day he had enough. He got so mad that he exploded and attacked me. When I woke up in the hospital, he was so broken. I just wanted him to comfort me… No matter what that did to my relationship with Leah."

Her story made me feel lucky that my imprint wasn't like that. But then I remembered the friendships that I had lost along the way and quickly stopping thinking like that. "It's hard to wrap my head around."

"It really is. Sometimes I wonder why it had to be me, but what good does it do you to sit around and mope about something that isn't going to change? When I see Sam, when I'm with him, it all seems worth it to me."

Before I could say something back, the two remaining werewolves came through the door just as Emily's muffins that were in the oven had finished baking. Scooping them in two at a time, they took a seat at the table.

I sat quietly, looking at Emily's scars and wondering why fate had chosen a girl like Emily.

Why did fate choose a girl like me?


	11. Accidents Happen

**A/N: If there's any mistakes, I apologize, I wanted to get this out for you guys.**

I woke up to the shrill sound of someone screaming. My heart was thrumming in a panic, I couldn't tell if it was my brother or maybe Callie, but I felt tears on my cheeks and I realized that it was me.

I clamped both hands over my mouth to stop myself and I realized that the reason why my heart was beating so fast is because of the nightmare I had. This was the third night in a row, since Saturday, that I had woken up in a panic with no memories of what I had dreamed about.

Jesus Christ, I was covered in sweat. _What_ was I dreaming about?

The window slid open and I screamed, jumping out of bed and running towards the door. "Holy shit Kim, it's just me."

What in the world? "Paul? What are you doing in my room?" I mumbled, shutting the door quietly and hoping my shouting hadn't woken anyone up.

"I heard you screaming…" He trailed off sheepishly. "I was worried, are you alright?"

I blushed deeply. Was I that loud? "I'm fine, just a bad dream. You didn't have to come all the way over here."

"I was patrolling near your house anyway…" Now he looked really embarrassed. "I'm just keeping an eye out for you, for Jared."

Ah, I got it now. "Yeah, for Jared." I teased. "I'm sure it was all for Jared."

I threw him a wry smile and he mumbled, "What?" under his breath. Giggling like an idiot, and probably because I was way overtired and drowsy, I threw my arms across his waist and hugged him. His warm arms embraced me naturally for a quick second, and then he quickly shoved me out of his arms. "God Kim, stop making me look so mushy." He muttered.

"You like me." I giggled, elated.

"I see you all the time in Jared's head, Kim. It's kind of hard not to like you."

"Oh shut up Paul, stop making excuses. You like me 'cause I'm awesome." I was laughing again. Jeez, I needed to shut up.

"Yeah, yeah, don't go telling people about it." He muttered. "Now why were you screaming? What did you dream about?"

"I don't remember." I said tiredly. "This is the third night in a row and everytime I wake up, it's like my memories were sucked out of my brain."

He sighed. "Go back to sleep, Kim. No more bad dreams okay? Want me to call Jared?"

"No it's okay, I'm fine. Did you want to stay for a little bit? We probably have food downstairs."

Paul's face morphed into a scowl. "I'm starving, but I have to get back on patrol. I'm sure Embry's wondering where the hell I went. See yah Kimmie." He squeezed my hand briefly and jumped out the window. I watched him land perfectly on his feet and take off into the forest without hesitation. At the edge of the forest he stopped, turned back and winked at me.

I shook my head and laughed to myself before crawling into bed. It was five in the morning and I vaguely wondered how the hell Paul and Embry managed to stay out all night and then stay awake during school.

Despite my exhaustion, I could not fall back asleep. I fought fitfully for half an hour and then my cell phone rang. I expected it to be Jared, but the caller id said Jake.

My heart stopped and I scrambled to pick it up. "Hello?" I said breathlessly.

"Kim… Did I wake you?" His voice was gruff.

Normally he would have, but I was awake. "No."

"I…" He trailed off. _What! You what! _"Can you meet me somewhere? I mean, if you want."

Yes! I needed somewhere away from the forest, where Paul wouldn't be able to jump out and scare him away. I needed somewhere that I had time to talk before they sniffed me out. "Do you know where the abandoned mechanic shop is? The one my dad…"

"Yeah, I'll meet you there in five." And he hung up.

Damn it, why was I so damn happy that I was going to see him? Curse this smile that was spreading across my face. I hadn't talked to Jake in forever. I threw on a giant sweater, some fuzzy socks and boots and pair of sweatpants. It was snowing and freezing cold, so I put my hood up over my head and sniffled my way to the rundown building.

It wasn't much warmer inside the wreckage, but it was a shield from the snow. "Jake?" I muttered.

"Yeah, it's me." He said, shaking the remaining snow out of his hair. "I'm sorry I made you meet me here in the cold… I just can't talk to you anywhere else. And I didn't want to talk over the phone."

I didn't blame him one bit, Jared and Paul were scary and overprotective. "It's okay. What's up?"

Suddenly I found myself engulfed in his arms. "I've missed you." He whispered. "I miss being around you, I want to be your friend."

"Jake…" I muttered, muffled in his chest.

"Why is Embry avoiding me?" He asked. "Why is he like them? You have to know why, Kim. You're hanging out with them too."

I shrugged when he released me. "It's complicated Jake."

"Oh don't give me that crap. I've seen Embry's eyes, they're terrified. What are they doing to him? Why is a nice girl like you hanging out with those creeps? Does your mother know you're involved with Jared?"

"Jeez Jake, relax. They're not bad people okay? Stop judging them when you don't even know what's going on." My voice came out clipped and defensive.

"Oh yeah, you're just on cloud nine aren't you? Finally, the boy you've been pathetically in love with forever is ready to play house. Isn't that great for you?" _Ouch…_ "I'm sorry." He ran a big hand over his face. "I've just been really angry lately. I just want my friends back."

My heart ached for him… "I want to tell you." I whispered. "If I could tell you, I would."

"Don't you trust me? I would never tell that you told."

"Yes you would." I whispered. "You would tell. You wouldn't mean to, but it would happen. I'm sorry. I want my friends back too."

"Kim, please…" His hands touched my face. They felt oddly cold to me. "What do I have to do to make you trust me?"

My mouth opened to speak, but the words that came out did not belong to me. They were not mine. "Get your hands off of her."

Paul sniffed me out. Paul told Jared. Jared was here. It looked like I was about to kiss Jake. Jared was an angry wolf. What the fuck do I do?

I wasn't even scared, I was annoyed. I rolled my eyes. "Don't be so dramatic, Jared. We were just talking." I said simply and I stepped away from Jake's grasp and walked over to him. "Come on, we're done talking anyway. See you around Jake." I tugged on Jared's arm but he easily side stepped me and walked over to Jake.

"What did you say to her?" He asked.

"It's none of your business!" I cried, grabbing on his arm from behind. He shook me off again. "I'm serious. Jake, don't tell him, he doesn't have the right to know." Yep, I was annoyed.

"Jesus Christ, Kim!" Jared roared when I held his arm again. "Let go of me _now!_" And all of a sudden, I was knocked to the ground in shock and parts of my body were throbbing.

Jared had just elbowed me and knocked me to the ground. He did not know his own strength. Embarrassingly, I felt tears spring to my eyes. I was hurt and mortified. It was Jake who rushed to my side first, checking me for injuries. "Are you alright!" He asked. "What hurts?"

"My ribs." I moaned. Jared was still standing there, gaping at me in shock like a fish.

Jake helped me to my feet and suddenly Jared snapped alive. "Get away from her." He said lowly, it was almost a growl. I could see his hands shaking.

"Are you crazy? I'm not leaving her here with you after what you just did!" Jake cried and Jared literally ripped a snarl from his mouth. I saw Jake's expression shift to horror.

"Jake, go." I mumbled. I did not need this escalating. I did not need Jared shifting and killing Jake. He looked at me incredulously. "I'll be fine. I'll see you at school."

"Kim…"

"Please go." I whispered. "Before you get hurt."

His expression was pained, but he did what I said. I couldn't even blame him, Jared looked fucking scary. I tried to take in calming breaths, but my ribs hurt and I winced. That knocked the anger out of him and he looked absolutely heartbroken. Yeah, you did this to me you jerk.

"What hurts, baby?" He whispered, coming over to me. I flinched at his touch, and if he noticed, he said nothing. "I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry."

"My ribs." I mumbled. "It hurts right there."

"I'm going to drive you to the hospital okay sweetheart?"

I wanted to protest, and ask for Paul or Embry but even though I was so pissed at him, I didn't want to upset him. So I just nodded and followed him quietly. I didn't talk in the car, even as he continuously apologized and asked me if I was okay. I didn't talk in the hospital when I got my ribs taped up after I found out that I had broken two of them and I didn't talk on the way back until I realized we had driven right past the school.

"You passed the school, Jared." I whispered.

"You're going home to rest."

"I have a math test today." I mumbled. "Turn around."

He glanced at me and shook his head. "Sorry, you need to go home and lay down. You can retake the test tomorrow."

My blood boiled. "_Damn it Jared, turn the fuck around and take me back to school right now!"_ Yelling hurt my ribs, and afterwards I wanted to crawl in a hole and die but it had worked. Silently, he turned the car around and pulled into the parking lot.

I was only five minutes late for class. I jumped out of the car and speed walked to the doors. I turned around because I didn't hear Jared following me, and I saw his car speed away.

I felt oddly relieved and I made my way into class, grabbing a test and sitting next to Paul. He gave me a disapproving glance just as I took too big of a breath and flinched. He became concerned. "What happened?"

"It's nothing." I mumbled, unconsciously rubbing the sore spot. Without warning, Paul jerked my shirt up. "Jesus, Paul!" I cried, tugging it down. There was no mistaking the white bandages though. I'm pretty sure Forks was the only hospital that didn't know taping ribs really didn't help heal them.

"What the fuck, Kim?" He growled. The teacher was glaring at him and I blushed and tried to concentrate on my test. "How did that happen? Did Jake phase and hurt you? Tell me!"

I shrugged. "It was an accident, okay?"

"Jared did it, didn't he?"

I was silent for a minute. "I don't want to talk about this right now." I finally said. And that was the end of our conversation for the class.

I finished the test, confident that I had done well and bustled out of the classroom as fast as I could without bumping into anyone and hurting myself. I watched from my locker as Paul walked out of the school and I knew he was going to find Jared and they were going to phase and he was going to find out.

I managed to last through my morning classes and at lunch time, I rushed off to the cafeteria to buy a salad and large bottle of water and I gulped down the pain medication that the hospital had given me while I was waiting at my empty table for Embry.

As I was picking at my food, someone hesitantly approached my table. "Jared and Paul aren't here." I said wryly to Jacob.

"Are you okay? How are your ribs?"

I sighed. "Broken, and they hurt like hell."

He frowned at me. "Has Jared been hurting you often? Is that why you're staying with him? Is that why you're so afraid to talk to me and tell me things? Because I can help you…" He trailed off.

I shook my head. "I promise that's the first time it's ever happened. Sometimes Jared doesn't know his own strength…" Everything I was saying sounded like words from an abused girlfriend. Shit. "I mean it when I say don't worry about me. I'm dealing with it."

He looked like he wanted to say more, but he caught a glimpse of Embry. "I gotta go." He muttered and walked off before Embry had even looked our way. Poor kid… It was only a matter of time before he understood.

I sat silently until Embry took a seat. "Hey Embry." I greeted.

"Hey Kim, what's up? It's weird seeing you alone. Where are Paul and Jared?"

I grimaced. "They are probably fighting each other in the woods."

He wrinkled his brows together. "What happened? Did they have a fight?" He noticed my discomfort. "You're in pain. Did Paul hurt you?"

"You werewolves just can't leave anything alone." I muttered. "Jared underestimated his own strength and may have broken a couple of my ribs. I'm completely fine though so let's just drop it."

He stared at me for a long minute and then he shrugged. "Okay." I grinned in spite of myself. This is why I loved Embry, he was always so agreeable and chill. "So do you feel okay? Because I could take you home if you need me to."

"Embry!"

He chuckled. "Okay, sorry, sorry." I shook my head but smiled at him.

Neither Paul nor Jared showed up during the afternoon, so in art I was free to talk to Summer all I wanted. I showed up and immediately set up next to her and she gave me her commercial smile. My heart tightened in my chest. I missed her so much.

I listened to her talk for a bit, about her mother, who was tiny and Japanese and adorable. "She misses you." Summer chuckled. "She wants you to come over for dinner and she said she'll make you that chicken stir fry you like so much."

"If your mom is cooking, you know that I'm down for anything." And we both giggled to ourselves. "Summer, I really need to talk to you about something important and this is the best time to do it."

"What's wrong?"

I didn't even know how to put my thoughts into words. "I miss you. You were my best friend through everything and I want that back but things are different now. Everything has changed so much and I know that you don't understand but the thing is, I can't tell you. It's not just some boy that has changed me; it's something so much bigger than that. And I will never be able to tell you what that is."

"You're not being threatened are you?" She whispered and I had to smile a bit.

"No. But I made a promise and it's unbreakable. We will never be able to be the same anymore, because there will be so many secrets between us. It's going to be so hard for us to be friends."

Both of us were silent, huddled in the corner of the art room. "I made a promise once too." She said. "To a little mousy girl back in the third grade. I promised her that we would always be friends, through anything and everything."

"She remembers."

"I understand what a promise means, and I want to keep mine as much as you want to keep yours. So I'm willing to try if you are."

My heart thrummed happily. "Deal." And we pinky promised that we would try.

"So what are you and Jared doing for Valentine's Day?" She tried to ask in a casual way, but the way she said his name sounded like she tasted something awful.

"Valentine's Day… When is that?" I mumbled.

"It's on Thursday… That's in two days." She laughed and shook her head. "Wow, you're really out of it aren't you?" And then she went on about what her and Quil were doing and I semi zoned myself out.

After last period, as I was getting ready to walk myself home, I wondered if Jared would take me out if I asked. It would make up for the injury and it would fill his 'awkward' first date quota.

I was brought out of my thoughts by the honking of a giant black truck. It wasn't anyone that I expected. It was Sam. He motioned for me to get in the truck and I hesitated, but did so anyway. It was cold out and I was definitely not fast enough to outrun a truck.

The interior of his truck was warm. "Hello, Kim." He greeted.

"Hi." I said meekly. "Um, are we going to your place?"

He nodded. "Are you alright with that? How are you feeling?"

Of course, he already knew about my incident. It felt like no one was ever going to stop bringing it up. "I'm a little sore." I mumbled. "I'll be better once I take my meds again."

"I want to apologize for what happened…" He trailed off when I turned and glared at him.

"This was not your fault Sam. Just because Jared is a part of your pack, doesn't mean you have to take responsibility for everything. I understand you're all connected as one but this is getting annoying."

"You know, you've been hanging around Paul too much." He commented lightly and I giggled a bit. I'd never really had a conversation with Sam that didn't involve anything serious. "He really roughed Jared up you know? He thinks of you as a little sister."

I was definitely not used to knowing the softer side of Paul. It was sort of unnerving, yet it was really, really sweet. I wanted to hug him again but I knew he wouldn't like it. We pulled into the driveway and Sam, the gentleman he is, helped me down from his monster of a truck so that I wouldn't hurt myself and warned me that Jared was ready to get on his knees and grovel.

True enough, the minute I got in the door he was apologizing and pleading. The first thing I noticed was a puckering red line right down the side of his face. I touched it. "What happened?"

"Oh it's nothing, Paul got me good that's all. But how are you feeling? How are your ribs? How can I ever make this up to you?"

I shook my head and rolled my eyes. "Accidents happen, Jared. But if you're really looking for a way to make it up to me, I have something in mind."

"Anything you want."

"Dinner on Thursday? It's Valentine's Day; I figured it could be our cheesy first date."

He frowned a little bit, but perked up. "I have patrol until seven. How about we take a late dinner in Port Angeles around nine? I'll make reservations and everything."

He kissed me gently on the lips and went off to steal a muffin from Emily, who was baking in the kitchen. Paul glanced over at me and a smile spread across my face.

Hah, Paul liked me.


	12. Excuses and Old Friends

**A/N: Hi guys! Sorry this is sort of late, I've just been enjoying my summer and I had a little bit of writer's block for this chapter, but it's all good now! I hope people actually read these…**

**Two things; One, I have a poll on my profile! I have three possible stories that I'm going to work on, and their summaries are up on my profile and in the poll you can choose which one you want to read next after I finish either Butterflies or ATOF. (I'm not really sure which one is going to be longer.) And two; in this story, the story line is hopefully going to be right on target. I will probably mix up dates and the timeline and maybe rush some things, but everyone will imprint on who they are supposed to. **

**What does that mean for our beloved characters? Well, you'll have to wait and find out!**

"I can't believe you and Jared have never been on a date!" Summer exclaimed as she sat on my bedroom floor, reading a Cosmo magazine. It was amazing how easily we had fallen back into an easy friendship. This was the first time she had been to my house since October, and it was like she never left.

Of course, Jared and Paul had no idea she was here. That's why I invited her while they were on patrol. "It just never seemed like a feasible idea I guess." I shrugged. "Our relationship, for lack of a better word, has never been normal."

"Yeah, I'll say." She muttered, not so much maliciously as confused.

It was six. "Did you want to stay for dinner? Jeff and Callie are out tonight so it's just me. We could order a pizza."

She frowned a little regretfully. "Sorry, I made plans with Quil. He's lonely, ever since Embry…" She trailed off. "And Jake's been hanging out with that Bella girl from Forks a lot." There was a knock at the door. "That's him."

I followed her down the stairs and gave her a tight hug before she left and she smiled at me with all her straight, white teeth. "It was really nice hanging out again."

"Obviously you have to come to my place next time. My mother was ranting in Japanese about you the other day."

"Of course, I'll be there." I said softly. I missed her family. She opened the door and I waved shyly. "Hey, Quil."

Poor kid looked so sad, but when he grinned, he was the same as ever. "Hey there Kimmie-Cup, how's life treating you?" I sighed and gave him a huge hug. I needed to stop hugging people; I think I was starting to seem weird.

I gave him a tiny smile and shoved Summer out the door. "See you guys later." And then I shut the door, wondering if I had gotten away with sneaking around with Summer.

But I realized Jared would probably smell them, him and his damn werewolf senses. I would try to distract him by making food and maybe spraying air freshener all over the house. Maybe throw some of my body sprays in there to confuse his senses.

So I made spaghetti, and I decorated my house with so many smells that it was gag worthy. When Jared came through my window at one in the morning, the first thing he asked me was, "Why were you with Summer and Quil?"

I pursed my lips in disappointment. "How did you know?"

"I can smell them both all over your skin." He chuckled. Ah drat, I forgot. His face turned serious and he tilted my chin up to meet his eyes. "What did Paul and I tell you about hanging out with her?"

I casted my eyes down. "I miss her." I whispered. "She was my only friend. She was always there for me."

"Well it isn't like that anymore, Kim. You have me, Paul, Embry and even Sam and Emily. So it's okay, you don't need to hang around her anymore."

I scoffed. "Your logic really sucks, Jared. You don't just abandon your friends because you made new ones. That's pretty low."

"You're going to lose her." He whispered with pity in his eyes. "She's going to hate you."

I wanted to tell him that she promised that we would be friends no matter what. I wanted to tell him that we had been friends forever and that we were going to push through this, and she would understand. But they were all wrong. "I know."

"Oh, Kim baby." He hugged me tightly and kissed my hair. "I know exactly how you're feeling. I know it's hard, I'm sorry."

Sorry for what? Sorry for what I'm going through? Sorry that it's his entire fault? Sorry that he didn't pick someone else? "It's okay." I found myself saying and it was okay, for any of those things it was okay. I loved him.

"It's late, get into bed. You need to get some sleep." I snuggled under my blankets and he pulled them up to my chin. "Goodnight, Kim." He kissed me softly on the lips. "And happy Valentine's Day." He gently placed something on my nightstand and jumped out the window.

I turned my sleepy head to look. A single white rose.

* * *

I woke early the next morning, exhausted but excited and put the rose in a vase full of water for my night table. I got ready and ate breakfast, rushing out the door to the sight of Jared's truck as usual. He opened the door for me and helped me in, just like always.

"You look beautiful this morning Kim." He said to me.

I giggled. "You say that every morning."

He grinned broadly at me. "Well, it's true every morning. You're even more beautiful when you're happy, like you are today." I shrugged but couldn't keep the smile off of my face. "This wouldn't have anything to do with our date, would it?"

"Maybe." I giggled again. He leaned over and kissed me. "Keep your eyes on the road." I said mock sternly.

"Yes ma'am." He said and seemingly shook his head at me. "I like this version of you, Kim. I'm glad you're happy."

"What, you've never seen me happy before?" I mumbled.

"I have, but just not because of me. It was mostly because of Jacob."

"Oh." I said, because I had nothing else to say to that.

He walked me to class. "Have a nice day, Kim. I'll see you at lunch." And he kissed me on the cheek and left. I sat down in my new seat, next to Paul, as my daily routine continued as normal. I ate lunch with the boys, I sat with Jared in History and he rubbed his fingers down my thigh, I chatted with Summer in Art and got scolded by Paul.

Yep, school was as normal as it could be. I got a ride home with Paul after school, because Jared left early to do his rounds or whatever he does while he's on patrol. He ruffled my hair affectionately when I got out of his car. "Have fun tonight Kim."

"I'm sure you'll hear all about it." I grinned. "See you later!"

When I walked into the house, took off my shoes and jacket, I realized that it was only three o'clock. I still had about five and a half hours until Jared picked me up. He had made reservations for nine at some restaurant in Port Angeles.

So now, all I had to do was sit here and twiddle my thumbs until it was a reasonable time to start getting ready.

I did all my homework and watched a stupid episode of Maury until five, and then I got in the shower for half an hour and scrubbed my whole body down, shaved everywhere and scrubbed shampoo into my scalp. Ever since I found out about Jared actually being a werewolf and having a really strong sense of smell, I was self-conscious as ever about the way I smelled.

After I got out, wrapped in a big white towel, I went into my room and dried my hair with a blow dryer, before crawling onto my bed with only my bra and underwear on and accidentally falling asleep.

When someone finally woke me up, it was seven thirty. "Kim? Don't you have a date tonight?" Callie's soft voice floated through the door.

I shot up. "Crap! Am I late?"

"No honey, it's only half past seven. Can I come in?" She asked. I rubbed my eyes blearily and nodded and she came and sat down on the end of the bed. "Can I help you get ready?"

I blushed. "You really want to? Okay." I watched her go through my closet, tutting and shaking her head and various pieces of clothing.

"We're about the same size." She mused. "Come on, you can borrow some of my clothes and my makeup too. You're going to look great!"

I frowned. "Not too much makeup I hope."

"Oh, no I wouldn't want to ruin your natural beauty. Just enough to enhance it, now sit." I sat on her bed and she pulled out a pair of blue skinny jeans, a burgundy v neck shirt with lace around the collar, a pair of black high heeled boots and a black leather jacket. "I've never seen your hair in anything in a ponytail. It has great body. Can I curl it with an iron?"

"I am at your will." I muttered and she squealed a little bit.

"I've always wanted a little sister." She said excitedly as she tugged at my hair and burned me a few times. "This is my first time ever giving someone a makeover!" After it was done, she refused to let me see it as she applied eyeliner and eye shadow onto my face. "I'm going to give you a smoky eye, but with more natural colours than black. It'll bring out the blue flecks in your eyes."

For the finishing touch, she put on some deep red lipstick. "The red is going to pop, but it won't look like too much because the rest of your makeup is natural." She told me as she was doing it. I didn't know why she felt like explaining this crap to me, I had no idea what she was saying and no experience, so I would have no idea if she were telling me the truth or not. "And I'm done! Take a look!"

I looked at myself in her full length mirror and ducked my head shyly when I saw my butt. "Wow…"

"Yeah I know, your butt looks amazing!" She squealed and I blushed. "I didn't add any blush because you do that enough already. It's eight thirty. Jared should be here any minute! You should go wait downstairs." We exchanged hugs. "Have fun!"

My heart thrummed nervously as I sat on the armchair near the door and waited to hear the doorbell ring.

When it hit 8:45, I was smiling to myself. _Isn't it me that's supposed to be fashionably late?_

Eventually, that turned into 9:30 and I was frantically checking my cell phone every two minutes for a missed call or a text. He had been out on patrol before our date, what if something had happened to him? I quickly pushed away all my thoughts about him ending up like my father. Jared was a werewolf, my dad was not.

At 10:00, I decided to call Emily. She answered on the second ring. "Hello?"

"Emily? It's Kim…"

"Oh hi, what's up?" She chirped.

Her tone of voice reassured me that nothing bad had happened to Jared… I was relieved and disappointed at the same time. "Um, have you heard from Jared?"

"He's out with the guys right now. Nothing happened to any of them, they're okay so don't worry."

Oh… "Okay thanks." I mumbled before I hung up. Maybe something important came up and he just lost track of time. I'm sure he'll call me or show up and explain any minute now.

By the time it was 11:30, I had already said goodnight to my brother and an extremely sympathetic and upset Callie. By that time, I was far past upset, I was angry. I didn't get a call, a text, a visit or an explanation. So I stopped waiting by the door like an idiot and went into my room, stripping off these stupid clothes and washing the useless junk off my face before putting my overdone hair in a ponytail and crawling into bed.

As an afterthought, I climbed out of bed, locked the window and drew the shades.

As I lay there in bed, my anger melted away. I found myself crying into my pillow and eventually falling asleep.

* * *

I woke up earlier than usual the next morning, letting my hair down and leaving it because it was still curly and I didn't want to shower. I threw on some clothes, my walking shoes and a rain jacket with a hood and starting walking to school about half an hour before Jared would even show up at my door.

I refuse to wait for him like an idiot again.

I got to school early, but I didn't mind so much and I sat in the cafeteria reading until the warning bell rang and I rushed off to my math class and sat in my seat quietly. Twenty minutes passed and Paul never showed up, so I relaxed and tried to focus on what we were learning.

Limits. Yeah, the only thing I knew about limits was that when Cady learned them, Aaron Samuels had gotten a haircut.

Math sucks.

After class, I was the last one out because I was stalling. But, who else would be waiting outside my classroom door? It definitely wasn't Embry.

"Kim!" He exclaimed, sounding relieved. "Where were you this morning? I knocked but no one answered."

"I walked." I muttered.

"You walked in the rain? You could have gotten pneumonia."

I sighed loudly and rolled my eyes. "Leave me alone."

"Kim…" He trailed off. "I'm really sorry but you have to let me explain okay? And I will, but not here."

"I really don't want to hear it."

Jared's face was a mask of shock. "Kim… What's wrong? I really am sorry."

I shook my head. "Whatever. I need to get to class." I turned on my heel and walked away, not looking back at his face. I could avoid him until History.

I dodged him in the hallway, taking the "long" way around and I hid in the library during lunch, ducking underneath the table every time I saw him walk past and look in.

I unfortunately had to go to History though. I was already failing. So I crept in to the sight of Jared already sitting at the desks, staring at the door and waiting for me. I sat down in my seat and he put his hand on my thigh. I jerked away. "Please don't be upset." He begged me.

I gave him a look. "I can do whatever I please. You aren't the boss of me."

My attitude seemed to take him by surprise again. "What has gotten into you? I promise that I'll explain what happened!"

"I told you before that I don't want to hear it. I'm tired of it."

"Tired of what?" He whispered.

"I'm tired of your fucking excuses!" I nearly yelled and clapped a hand over my mouth when everyone turned to look at me. "There's always a reason, Jared. You couldn't help it because of this; I didn't mean to, it wasn't my fault. Whatever, okay? Maybe for once I don't want to hear your excuses. You didn't have a second to text me? Call me? Do you know how stupid I felt waiting for you? Do you know how stupid I felt waiting for you my whole life!"

"Miss Spencer, is there a problem?" My teacher asked me. I didn't realize he had started the lesson and I flushed.

"No, sir."

"Good. Save the relationship problems for outside the classroom please. Now, as I was saying, the Civil War began in 1861…" He droned and I stared straight ahead, never once straying from the front of the classroom.

When the bell rang, I bolted out of there as fast as I could. I was stupid to think that I could outrun Jared. He grabbed my arm and pulled me into a closet. "What the hell, Jared?" I muttered. "Why are we in a closet?"

"Jacob phased last night." He breathed out. "I had to stay and coax him out of his wolf form and we all had to explain the basics of what we are to him. He was pretty remarkable though, almost phasing instantaneously. It took Paul two weeks to change back into a human but then again Jacob is a lot calmer than Paul." He chuckled.

"I don't care." I said childishly and I reached for the door. His hot hand grabbed my wrist and stopped me. "Let me go."

"You should go see him." He murmured. I gave him a surprised look. "He's having a really rough time and he could use a friend."

"Fine, I'll go." His face brightened. "I'm not going for you, I'm going for him."

"Please don't be angry with me."

"It isn't going to work this time! I'm not just going to look into your puppy dog eyes and forgive you like always! I'm fucking pissed off." I grumbled.

"That's the second time you've swore today." He said, with an amused look on his face. I shot him my best glare and he stopped smiling. "I'm sorry."

"Can you stop saying that?" I muttered as we walked out of the closet. "Sorry doesn't fix anything."

We rode to Sam's in silence to where Jacob was sitting at the table with his face in his hands. Paul was watching TV and eating Mt. Everest and Emily was in the kitchen and she smiled when she saw us come in. "Hey you two! Do you want something to eat?"

Jared happily accepted and I shook my head. "No thanks, Emily." Jake's head turned towards me at the sound of my voice. "Hey Jake, want to go for a walk?" I held out my hand and he took it gently and I led him outside. "How are you holding up?"

"So this was the big secret." He muttered to me. "I'm a fucking werewolf and Bella dated a vampire and she _knew_ about it and she still didn't care! And now I can't even talk to her or tell her!"

It felt nice, to be able to converse with him normally and not have to watch what I was saying. "Yeah, I'm a little freaked out too."

He squeezed my hand. "I'm sorry you're involved in this, Kim."

"God, if I had a nickel for every time I heard that."

"I'm also sorry for what happened between us…" He trailed off. "If I had just known why, I think I might have understood. I'm sorry we stopped talking."

I reached out to hug him. "It's okay, I don't blame you. Friends?"

"Always." And then he groaned. "What am I going to do about Quil?"

I had forgotten about Quil. Poor Quil, losing his best friends… "He'll probably be next." I said without thinking.

Jacob's face darkened. "I sure hope not."

"Me too."

We walked a little more in silence. "Kim?" He asked suddenly. "What do I do…? What do I do about Bella?"

I knew that trying to help Jacob reveal our secret wasn't the best idea. In fact, Jared would probably be pissed. But I was so upset with Jared that I didn't care one bit. "You said she dated a vampire right? Well, she has to be aware that supernatural creatures exist. You don't have to come right out and tell her, you just have to put the idea in her mind. She will figure it out eventually."

"Do you really think so?" He asked me, eyes alight with hope.

I shrugged. "It's worth a shot."

"Thank you, Kim. You really are a great friend." I smiled at him. "Can I walk you back to Sam's?"

"Actually… Could you take me home? I don't want to be around Jared anymore."

He grimaced. "I'm really sorry about that. I didn't try to phase and ruin your date, I promise. I'm not that kind of ex-boyfriend."

Despite my surly attitude, I laughed at him. "Next time, keep your jealousy in check."

He smiled his boyish grin at me and it looked out of place on his manly frame. I had forgotten how much I liked Jacob Black. But it felt wrong, to be happy because I could talk to him again. "I'm sorry this happened to you…"

He shrugged. "No use dwelling on something I can't change."

When I got to my house, I sat on my bed quietly. I wondered what life would be like if werewolves and vampires didn't exist. Jared wouldn't have even looked twice at me, and I would probably still be dating Jacob.

I couldn't help but wonder which world I would rather live in.

**A/N: I'm really sorry that they didn't get to have their date! But it will come, don't worry. Don't forget to check the poll and vote!**


	13. Here We Go Again

**A/N: I'm so sorry! I know it's been two weeks since I last updated, but I'm here now! Enjoy and sorry once again.**

All night, my phone rang. Or at least, that's what I was assuming because I had fifty missed calls from Jared. When I woke up in the morning and saw them, I was surprised my window was still intact. It would be just like him to come to my room and break open my window.

I had to suppress my humorless laughter. Jared was the one stalking me now, how funny.

I got up, showered, brushed my teeth and put my wet hair into a big French braid before throwing on a pair of jeans and a plain gray long sleeved shirt. Just as I was tugging it down, there was a knock on my bedroom door. "Kim?" Jeff asked. "Someone's at the door for you."

I folded my arms and sighed. "If its Jared, please tell him I'm not here."

"It's not Jared…" He trailed off. "I mean, I don't think it is. I don't know! They all look the same to me." I furrowed my eyebrows. If it wasn't Jared, who else would it be? "Can you just go downstairs and see what he wants? I don't want to talk to him again, he gives me the creeps."

"Fine." I muttered, following him down the stairs and opening up the door to find Paul leaning casually against the railing. I wasn't really all that surprised. "Hello Paul."

He gave me his infamous bad boy smirk. "Hi Kim, do you have plans for today?"

I didn't like his tone of voice or the mischievous glint in his eyes. "Well actually I was thinking of going to the mall with Summer."

"Well, think again." And he casually grabbed me by the waist and threw me over his shoulder.

I shrieked. "Paul! Put me down right now! I mean it!"

"Not a chance."

"I'm not wearing a jacket! Or shoes!" I cried. "I can't go anywhere without shoes."

He shrugged, making my torso go up and down and hurting my ribs, and stepped into my house, grabbing a pair of shoes from the closet. "I know these are your Vans. Problem solved." And he took off the giant jacket he was wearing and slid my arms through it. I felt like a rag doll.

"Lucky guess." I grumbled and he started walking down the porch and down the road. "Where are we going?" I asked. I had given up on running away. He was bigger, faster and stronger than me.

"To Sam and Emily's."

"That's a ten minute walk, Paul. Are you really going to carry me upside down the whole way?" I could already feel the blood rushing to my head. "I can walk you know."

"Are you going to run away? If you do, I will carry you by the ankles." He threatened and I grumbled a promise and he finally set me on my feet, grabbing me by the shoulders as I tipped over towards him.

I righted myself and looked down while we walked, blush flushing across my face. Paul kept a strong hand on me, his fingers flexing on my shoulder. "You can let go of my shoulder." I muttered. "Even if I ran away, you're faster than me." He relaxed his grip. "So why are you kidnapping me anyway?"

Paul shrugged his big shoulders. "Because I can."

"That's really all you're going to tell me?" I muttered.

"What kind of friend would I be if I gave it away?"

I should have known. "So this has something to do with Jared." I mumbled. Paul just chuckled and threw his arm across my shoulder, like we'd been friends our whole life. I folded my arms across my ribs, firmly but gentle, and walked next to him. Eventually, I was panting, trying to keep in stride with his giant legs. "Paul, can you please slow down?"

"How about you speed up, okay cupcake?" He teased. I scowled at him and he rolled his eyes. "Fine, I will walk at your annoyingly slow snail pace."

"Be nice or I'll run away and yell rape." I muttered.

He looked at me and laughed. "You know, Kim, I always used to think you were a shy and quiet girl but you have quite a devious mind. Are you starting to come out of your shell a little bit?"

"Yeah well I used to think you were a huge dickhead. Finally get that stick out of your ass?"

He snorted. "You're hilarious, now don't freak out." And he proceeded to spin me around and tie a piece of fabric around my eyes. I have to admit, I freaked out. I started flailing my hands and trying to hit him and pull off the blindfold. "You're a great listener."

"You just cut off one of my main senses!" I cried. "I don't know about you, but I think that's reason enough for me to be a little unsettled."

"Oh come on, like I would ever do anything to hurt you." There was a hint of a smirk in his voice. "We're friends, aren't we Kim?"

"You don't have girl friends, Paul." I grumbled, stumbling blindly along while he guided me with his hands on my shoulders. "You have conquests."

He laughed loudly. "You are very observant. But I guess when you stalk Jared I'm part of the deal, right?" I quickly shut my mouth, and my face lit up. Leave it to Paul to purposely try to embarrass me by bringing that up. "Aw Kim, I'm just teasing you. Don't be upset."

"We may be friends now but I still hate you. You're still an ass."

"So I've been told." And he didn't sound ashamed, he sounded proud. I rolled my eyes behind the blindfold. Typical Paul. "We're here. Watch your step."

He led me through the screen door and I smelled food before I saw it, because of my temporary blindness. "Paul is that you?" Emily called. "Kim! Oh, I'm so glad you came!"

"I'm not sure what's going on but nice to see you too Emily. Figuratively speaking, that is."

She giggled. "Well, I'll take it from here. I'm sure you want to get away from Paul."

"Hey, I'm not that horrible to be around." Paul mumbled with a mouthful of something.

"That's because you've had to live with yourself for seventeen years, Paul. You're used to it by now." I grumbled as Emily took my hand and led me outside. "Why are we going outside? It's a little chilly."

"Don't worry, you won't notice. Have fun!" And she departed back inside.

"Wait, am I allowed to take my blindfold off or not!" I called to her.

The person who answered me wasn't her. "I'm sorry that I made them blindfold you. I just wanted this to be a surprise." Jared's warm hands reached up to untie the fabric and I felt his fingertips brush against my face. My body involuntarily shivered. "Happy belated Valentine's Day, Kim."

There was a small sheet of snow lying across the ground and a path of twinkling lanterns, leading up to a Gazebo with two cushions and a picnic blanket spread out with dishes of food all over it. Around the inside of the Gazebo, white rose petals were spread out on the ground. There were sparkling snowflakes hanging all around. It was like… "A Winter Wonderland." I breathed.

"Are the rose petals too much? I just kind of threw them around at the last minute… Girls like roses right? I mean, I can easily sweep them up right now if you want to go wait inside." He rambled.

"Jared, shut up." I reached up on my very tiptoes to clap a hand around his mouth. "It's beautiful. Absolutely breathtaking."

"Do you want to go sit down?" He murmured. "But first, take off that jacket. You smell like Paul and I would rather not have to sniff him anymore than I have to." I took off the jacket, threw it on one of the deck chairs and took Jared's hand. "I wanted to do this at my house, but my backyard is definitely not this well-kept. Don't worry though, Emily promised that she would kick Paul out of the house so he wouldn't bother us."

I just nodded and sat down on one of the cushions, finding myself reverting back into my shell, astonished and shy. I had never been on a date before, but I'm pretty sure this topped the basic dinner and a movie combo. I looked at the food and without thinking, blurted out, "Did you cook this?"

Jared chuckled. "No, don't worry, it was all Emily." I frowned, feeling a bit guilty. "Don't worry, she offered."

How is it that Jared always knows what I'm thinking? "So it's safe to eat." I teased weakly.

He gathered my hands in his big, warm ones. "Kim, please relax. It's just me. It's us, on a date. Just imagine us talking like we would in History."

"Is it okay if we talk about something other than the Civil War?"

He gave me a broad grin and kissed me on the side of the head. I flushed and looked down at my lap. "It's really good to see you. I've missed you a lot."

"I'm sorry…" I trailed off. "I overreacted."

Jared shook his head. "No Kim, everything you did was justified. I know I've screwed up a lot, before and after our relationship started. But no more screw ups, Kim. I promise that I'm going to do everything right now."

"Thank you." I whispered. "Thank you for being there for Jacob when he needed someone. Thank you for letting me be there for him too. You haven't screwed up as much as you think."

"Well, I have something for you. Hopefully it will make up for the times that I _did _screw up." He pulled out a little drawstring bag. "Open it."

I frowned a bit. "You didn't have to buy me anything… I didn't get you anything."

"I don't need anything as long as I have you. As long as you're breathing, everything is perfect."

I blushed again and gently poured the contents of the bag into my hand. "Oh Jared…" In my hands was a gently woven bracelet, littered with russet and black colored beads. At the end was a carved wolf. "Did you make this?"

"I did. Emily showed both Sam and I how to do it. She has one too. It's a promise bracelet of sorts…" He paused. "I wanted to ask you, finally, officially. Will you be my girlfriend?" Another pause. "Are you crying?"

His voice sounded horrified and I realized that, yes, I was crying. I wiped away my tears furiously. "That's so embarrassing."

"Kim, did I do something to upset you? Do you not want to be with me anymore?"

I gave a watery laugh. "Don't be an idiot, Jared. I'm just a little surprised, but I'm happy. Of course I want to be with you. I never in my wildest dreams thought that I would ever have you. And yet, here you are."

He awkwardly crawled towards me and wrapped me in his arms. He was so warm and his forehead pressed against mine. "I should have noticed you sooner. I wish I had. We could have had so much more time together."

"But you're here now." I whispered.

"I'm here now." He murmured. "And we have the rest of our lives to be together."

And despite everything that had happened to get us here, despite all of our mistakes, I believed him.

* * *

"She actually did that?" Jared muttered, horrified.

I giggled at his expression, taking another bite of my chicken salad. "She did. She said that we were practically family already."

He groaned and slapped a hand over his eyes. "Leave it to my mom to do that the first time she meets you. I'm surprised that you didn't run away screaming."

"Oh I thought about it. But do you want to know what stopped me?"

His eyes smouldered into mine. "What?"

"I really, _really_ wanted my shoe back." I said seriously. Jared's lips twitched upwards into a smirk and he shoved me gently.

"Are you sure that was the only reason?"

I pretended to think about it. "Yup, positive."

He threw me a puppy dog face. "Why are you so mean to me, Kim?"

"It's because I love you." I said lightly, trying to take the intense edge and meaning off of my words, like they were something I would say every day.

I didn't fool him. His face lit up and he engulfed my own face in his big hands and kissed me with all his might. I slid my hands up his chest and grasped his collar while our tongues tangled. He finally let go and I realized that I had been holding my breath. I gasped. "I love you too Kim, so much. I promise that nothing will ever, ever change that." He said solemnly.

"You really did a good job of making up for our cancelled date." I commented casually, trying to ignore the fact that my heart was beating a mile a minute.

He smiled. My heart started up faster. "Well, I'm just glad you came."

"You can thank Paul for that." I grumbled. "He threw me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes."

Jared's eyes narrowed. "I told him to bring you here, not to kidnap you. I'll kill him."

I put my hands on his forearm. "Don't do that, Jared. He was just being a good friend. If he had mentioned your name or anything to do with you, I have to admit, I probably wouldn't have come. I was still being a stubborn child."

"Did you just say Paul was a good friend?" He asked, laughing. "I'm so used to being the one defending him, it's a little strange."

I shrugged. "Well, Paul has been a really nice guy to me ever since we started… talking."

"He loves you, Kim. You're his little sister. In fact, they all love you. Embry, Emily, Paul… Jacob. Even Sam feels strongly towards you, and he barely knows you. They all think of you as family."

"They feel like my family." I whispered. "Ever since my dad passed away, I haven't really known what family was. But…Emily's house feels like home to me. I'm happiest when I'm with you guys. I trust you with my life. That's what family feels like, right?"

"Yes, Kim." Jared's voice was warm. "That is exactly what family feels like."

**A/N: And they finally have their first date! How was it? Was it what you expected? Better? Worse? Sorry that the chapter was kind of short, but I felt like this was the perfect place to end it. I didn't want to ruin the essence of their date by jumping scenes.**


	14. Trouble in Paradise

**A/N: Yeah, I know, I'm horrible for writing author's notes but they usually are important so I hope you still read them! Just a few things to mention; 1) How do you guys want this story to go? I'm not sure if I'm going to wind it down. Do you guys want lots of K/J fluff and coverage of events that have happened in the books and then a wrap up? Or do you want more 'personal' stuff that Bella has no idea about? (AKA way more drama!) Let me know! This story will probably be about 20-25 chapters depending on which direction it goes.**

**2) We're skipping forward in the story! Not too far, just about a month. We're at Spring Break now and I'm sure we all know what that means.**

**And 3)The next few chapters are a lot to take in. Not really like bad, but it's a lot of action and events. Just like in New Moon, except from our darling Kimmie's eyes. ALRIGHT! Here we go!**

The final bell rang and I ran out of Science in relief. Today had been the longest day of my life, probably because I knew Spring Break was right around the corner. As I hitched my book bag higher up on my shoulder, I was attacked from behind by someone running out of the classroom behind me, wrapping their arms around my waist and throwing me up in the air.

I screamed and then flushed. "Paul!" I hissed. "Put me down. People are staring."

"Who cares about these nobodies?" He laughed wholeheartedly, putting me on my feet. "It's Spring Break! A whole week of not having to worry about staying up for 40 hours at a time so that I don't flunk out of the crapshoot."

I rolled my eyes and shook my head at his excitement, but I was met with the warmest pair of chocolate brown eyes that I had ever seen and my own excitement rose. I had a whole week to spend with Jared. I smiled shyly at him and he grinned back, grabbing my face and kissing me. "Hi there." He said. "Happy that school is done?"

"Not as happy as Paul." I chuckled, looking back at my friend who was chatting with Embry. He turned around and gave me a thumbs up. Embry waved at me as well, looking just a notch less happy than Paul.

Jared laughed. "I'm pretty sure the only one not happy is you-know-who." I frowned and looked to where his eyes were trained. Poor Jake, he was leaning up against the lockers near the other two, trying his hardest to look interested in their conversation but failing. "I feel bad for him but this is ridiculous. We all had to leave our friends behind…"

"Maybe she was more than just a friend to him." I murmured, knowing that his sadness was only about Bella. "Maybe she was more. It's not that easy to just get over someone."

He kissed me. "I love the fact that you're so compassionate."

"You love everything about me." I countered, but still blushed. All laughter and teasing between our group stopped as Quil and Summer walked through the group tersely. All the guys turned their heads, pretending to look elsewhere as their former friend frowned sadly at the ground, eyes hidden under his baseball cap. I sent my own friend a fleeting smile and she returned it. And then they were gone.

The five of us gathered together as we walked out the door. "Quil looks like he's about ready." Paul mentioned casually before Embry punched him in the arm. "What? It's true."

Jacob shook his head fiercely. "No. This is not the right thing for Quil. No matter how much I miss him." I found myself nodding in agreement along with Embry. It would be best if Quil stayed out of it.

Jared shot me a look but I ignored it, content to live in my own world where Quil was going to stay a normal human being forever. "So what are we doing tonight?" I said lightly. "You know, to celebrate our last day."

Jared frowned. "Kim I'm sorry…"

"More pack stuff?" I said sadly. They had been out patrolling and hunting a set of vampires for the past few months. One of them was finally gone, but the other one was still causing trouble. It worried Emily and I to no end.

"Yeah, but I'm off tomorrow. Maybe we could spend the day together." He said hopefully and I nodded in agreement. "Listen beautiful, we need to get out of here." He sounded rushed and he was elbowing Embry in the ribs. Quil was hiding alone and unsuccessfully, behind the doors, trying to listen. Jared gave me his keys. "Take my truck and I'll come pick it up when I can. Love you."

I accepted his kiss and said goodbye to the rest of them, before heading off to find Jared's truck in the parking lot. I felt someone following me quietly, immediately knowing it was Quil. "You know, you're not very good at being a spy." I commented.

He stepped out in front of me, eyes sunken and frowning. "How come you're not going with them?" He asked in a hard voice. Oh, Quil…

"Guy stuff." I mumbled, feeling uncomfortable. I had to admit to my unwilling eyes that Quil looked meatier and taller than ever. "Listen, I have to go."

"Can you just tell me where they are?" He pleaded with wide eyes. "I just want to talk to Embry or Jake."

I sighed. "I don't know where they're going Quil, sorry." My voice was deadpanned.

He narrowed his eyes at me. "That's bullshit Kim. So what, you're into their cult now too? Telling lies, keeping secrets and going off doing god knows what? I thought you were better than them. I thought Jake was better than them too."

I wiped the single tear that had fallen onto my cheek and unlocked the truck. "Goodbye, Quil." He shook his head angrily and ran off in the direction where the guys had gone. My stomach churned and I focused on keeping my composure before I stretched my foot down to reach the gas and took off.

Instead of driving to my house, I pulled in behind Sam's truck and opened the little yellow door of his house. "Emily?" I called. I didn't have to look far because she was a few feet away from the door in the kitchen.

The perfectly normal half of her face lit up in delight. "Kim! I'm so glad you're here. I was afraid I was going to have to spend the evening alone."

I smiled at her. "I'm happy to spend time with you, Em."

"Well I should hope so. Us wolf girls have to stick together." I agreed with her. It was nice having a friend, even someone a little older than me that I could talk to about the secret. That shared my worries and fears right alongside of me. "Are you hungry?"

I knew better than to tell her that I wasn't. She was like my grandmother, insulted when someone refused her cooking. Probably because no one ever did. She made me up a plate of lasagna and garlic bread and I ate alongside of her happily. "This is delicious." I praised. Of course it was.

"I figured you would enjoy a nice home cooked meal." She was right, neither my brother nor I could make anything this good. "How are you? Do you miss your mother?"

"No." I replied honestly. "But I miss my little sister a lot. I'm going to go up there for a week during summer vacation."

"I don't blame you. She was the most adorable little girl. My days are pretty empty without her around to keep me company. And with the vampire running around, Sam is gone a lot too. I miss him a lot." She frowned. Her sad face actually hurt my heart. Seeing Emily upset was like seeing an injured puppy.

I reached out to hug her. "I know what you mean. But soon it'll be over and they will be back and have all the time in the world to dote on us."

Emily smiled, and all was right with the world again. I helped her clean up and do the dishes, even after she literally tried to push me out of the kitchen, and we had a cup of hot chocolate together and chatted for a good while before I decided I was going to head out. It was just about seven. "I'm going to head home before it gets really dark or starts raining. I hate driving in the dark, even if it's only for a few minutes."

"Of course. I hope to see a lot more of you now that you don't have school this week." She hugged me. "Don't be a stranger. I see Jared way more than I see you, and I'd rather it be the other way around."

I agreed to come visit her and headed on my way home. My brother and Callie were just finishing up eating and getting ready to leave. "We're going to hang out with a few friends." She explained, buttoning up her shirt. "We'll be back around one-ish. Don't wait up."

I bid them a goodbye and went upstairs to draw myself a bath, completely used to being left alone. The warm water felt soothing on my skin and I closed my eyes, letting myself sink deeper into the tub.

The next thing I knew, someone was banging on my door.

I shot up and jumped out of the water. It was freezing cold now and I dried off my wet body with a towel before sliding on a robe and running downstairs. I caught a glance at the clock, telling me it was already nine thirty. "I'm coming!" I called as I was at the top of the stairs. I knew that there was a large chance of whomever it was having super hearing, so I'm sure that they heard me. I swung the door open. "Jacob!" I exclaimed. He was definitely one of the last people on my list that I expected.

"Can I come in?" He muttered. He looked terrible. I opened the door wide and he made his way in, throwing himself down on my couch with a splat. His clothes were soaked, it was raining pretty badly.

"Where are the rest of them?" I asked curiously, partly wishing it was Jared that was here.

He shrugged. "Still patrolling, I guess. We caught wind of the vampire again." My heart constricted with nerves.

"How come you're not out there?" I asked, a little bit accusingly. He looked up at me with sad, sunken eyes and I frowned. "Hey, what's wrong? You look pretty beat up."

He let out a heavy sigh. "I told them something important came up with my dad. Bella showed up at my house today." He muttered. "I had to tell her face to face that we couldn't be friends anymore. It just about broke her heart."

I sat next to him and put my hand on his arm. "That really sucks." I said, my jealousy from a few months ago completely gone. "Are you going to be okay? How come you're here?"

"I needed someone to talk to. And I need some advice. Do you remember when I first phased last month and you told me that she probably already knew somewhere in her mind?" He asked desperately and I found myself nodding before he finished his sentence, desperate to make him feel better. "I want to help her figure it out. But I can't find a way around Sam's damn injunction."

I furrowed my eyebrows. "What's an injunction?"

"Basically an order. I'm forbidden to mention anything about werewolves, or the legends or stories to her. Stories that she already knows!" He was anguished. "I need your help, Kim!" He shook my shoulders a little bit. "How do I get around that?"

I scrunched my forehead up in concentration. Before I could even start to think of all the reasons why helping Jake was wrong, an idea popped into my head. "Wait, you said she already knows the stories?" I asked. He nodded. "But how?"

With that, he looked sheepish. "Well…" He mumbled. "I sort of already told her."

"Isn't it against Tribe rules to tell the Legends to an outsider?"

"Well, yeah." He rubbed the back of his neck. "But this was when I was still a kid, fourteen and I was trying to impress an older girl! Besides, I thought that the legends were all rubbish."

I knew what he meant. My inner nerd was kicking in, trying to brainstorm. "Sam doesn't know that you've already told her?"

"No, but the next time I phase, he's going to find out. I won't be able to stop thinking about it."

I brightened a little bit. "I've got it!" I exclaimed. He looked at me hopefully. "Don't phase. If you can, go straight to Bella's and talk to her."

"But the injunction…"

"That's just it! You've already told her the stories, right? There's no rule against reminding her about the _day_ that you told her! Just keep reminding her where you guys were and what you were talking about beforehand that lead up to it! Ask her if she remembers what you told her." I rambled on. "Get her to repeat the stories to you. Get her to realize!"

He looked at me with pure excitement and planted a familiar kiss on my cheek. "This might just be crazy enough to work." He mumbled. "You really are the best, Kim. Thank you so much." And he bolted out into the rain.

I sat on the couch, my excited grin fading off my face. _What have I just done?_

I just helped my ex-boyfriend find a way to break his Alpha's orders in order to tell an outsider his secret, which no one is supposed to know. I've basically just helped him expose the secret that we've all worked so hard to protect.

Aw crap, Jared's gonna be pissed.

Suddenly overcome with exhaustion, I slowly made my way back upstairs after locking the front door. I drained the cold water in the tub, finally noticing how prune like my skin was after being in there for two hours and slipped on my pajamas, sliding into bed.

I listened as the rain and the wind pelted against my window, frowning slightly when I remembered that Jared was out there in that awful weather, hunting vampires. I tried to shake the dread that had been constantly filling my mind.

_Jared's a big boy. He'll be fine._

* * *

I woke up bright and early that morning. It was just shy of nine when I stumbled downstairs to get some breakfast. Imagine my surprise when I found Jared's large body sitting in my kitchen chair, eating a pop tart. He glanced up. "Hey beautiful."

"Hi, Jared." I mumbled. "What are you doing here? Not that I'm not happy to see you…"

He shrugged. "I came here when I got off patrol."

I furrowed my eyebrows. "When was that?"

"Around seven."

"So you've been sitting around at my kitchen table for two hours? Why didn't you go home and sleep? You have to be exhausted." I murmured, putting my hands on his face and looking at the tired lines under his eyes.

He shrugged. "If I went home, I would have slept for way longer than I wanted. I'd rather not waste any time without you."

I smiled at him and kissed him on the lips quickly. He was just so darn cute. "Well, since you're staying, do you want breakfast? I do know how to make pancakes and I'm sure it'll taste a lot better than that pop tart."

He nodded his head quickly and I laughed, knowing he would be up for food. The two of us quietly got all the ingredients and supplies out, trying not to wake up the two hungover kids upstairs. Although I tried to be professional about it, Jared insisted on acting like a two year old.

And that's how I ended up with pancake batter all over my face and in my hair. And Jared had egg yolk down his shirt and flour all over his cheeks. I giggled and drew a smiley face on one side. "You're a mess." I commented, pouring two cups of orange juice.

"I could say the same about you." He retorted as batter dripped off the ends of my hair. I wiped it off with my hands and rolled my eyes. "These are delicious. I was starving."

"When are you _not_ starving?" I teased, finishing my last of two pancakes while Jared shoved his sixth or seventh one in his mouth. We finished eating and starting cleaning up the dishes, throwing them in the sink.

I turned around and Jared wrapped his arms around my lower half, lifting me up so that I was sitting on the counter at his level. He kissed me, and I wrapped my arms around his neck and wove my sticky hands into his slightly shaggier hair. I giggled when we broke apart. "I'd tell you to go upstairs and get cleaned up but you just taste so damn good." He growled, biting my lip.

"You don't taste so bad yourself." I kissed him again and his hand squeezed my thigh.

"Oh, Kim." He moaned into my mouth and then we both froze. "Did you hear that?" He asked me.

I frowned at him. "It sounded like a howl."

"It sounded a lot like Sam." He mumbled. "Oh well, if it's important he knows where to find me." And then he continued kissing me until a second howl, closer and louder, shot into the air. Like it was reserved specifically for Jared. "Kim…"

I sighed. "Please don't go." I begged selfishly.

He brushed a sticky piece of hair out of my eyes. "I have to go, Kim. It sounds urgent." He stepped away from me and I hopped off the counter, brushing the flour off of my pants. I followed him as he made his way to the door unhappily.

I barely ever see him anymore, and I was looking forward to spending the day together. "I guess I'll see you later." I mumbled, staring at the floor. I could feel the involuntary tears forming in my eyes.

"I'll come back as soon as I can." He promised, anguished as he tipped my head up towards him and kissed me on the nose. "See you soon."

"Bye." I muttered as I shut the door after him.

After I cleaned up the kitchen, I hopped in the shower in order to scrub my body of all food substances. And that's when I remembered my conversation with Jacob last night. And then I thought of Sam's urgent howl.

Crap, I was so dead.

**A/N: I know, two updates so close together! I'm amazing, you don't have to say it.**


	15. Pop Goes the Wolf

**A/N: The only thing I wanted to say is that I'm finally getting around to changing Paul and Jared's last names to what they are supposed to be, according to the Illustrated Guide. And that my absence is explained by the fact that I was on vacation for four days and didn't bring my laptop with me. As for ATOF, I'm just having more fun writing Kim and Jared! But the next chapter will be up as soon as I finish it.**

My guilt was eating me up. I sat quietly on the couch in the living room, chewing my nails to bits and staring at the black screen of the TV, waiting.

I was waiting for Jared, and most likely Paul, to barge in and start yelling at me and accusing me of betraying them.

When Jared finally came back, around one, his reaction was unlike what I had been thinking. He wrapped his arm around me as he sat beside me on the couch and sighed, shaking his head. "You missed it, Kim. Guess who lost their temper and phased in front of a human?"

I gasped. "Paul? What happened? Did he give away the secret? What did you guys do?"

"_We_ didn't give away the secret. Jacob did." He muttered.

"So Paul phased in front of Bella Swan?"

He nodded. "Yeah- Wait? How did you know that?" He asked sharply. "Wait a second! You've been scheming with Jacob haven't you?"

"Before you freak out… I was just trying to help out a friend."

He burst into laughter. "I knew it!" He chortled. "I knew it was too good of an idea to be his. You are way too smart for your own good, and ours too apparently."

"Wait… You're not mad?"

He shook his head at me. "No not as much as I should be, I guess. I'm too tired and I miss you too much. Paul will probably be pretty pissed though."

We both chuckled and I ran my thumb across the tired skin on Jared's face, relieved. "You look so tired, Jared. We should go upstairs and take a nap."

He let out a low groan. "As amazing as that sounds, I can't. I have to go again."

"Again?" I whined. "You just got here!"

"I'm really sorry, Kim. But we finally found out what the redheaded vamp wants. Apparently, she's after Bella." He grumbled. "We're not going to rest until she's dead."

I sighed. "Okay fine, goodbye Jared."

"Kim, please forgive me. This is for your safety as much as it is Bella's. I will find time for you, I promise." I let him kiss me. "Be safe."

"Right back at you." I muttered, shutting the door in his face for the second time today. This werewolf thing was seriously a nuisance. I'm starting to regret helping Jake out.

I just hoped they'd catch her soon.

* * *

I was wrong. The next few days dragged on exactly the same as Saturday. I saw Jared for a few minutes and then he would be dragged away on duty. They were running ragged and I was getting bored.

On my many walks around the town, and down the beach, I saw Bella Swan. Jared had told me that she was hanging out here for her own safety, and a little bit in hopes that her scent would lure the vampire to La Push.

I didn't talk to her and she didn't acknowledge me. Apparently Jake had left me out of their little conversations and she had no idea that I was an ex-girlfriend or imprint. Oh well, I was used to being a nobody.

I hung out with Emily mostly, because she was the only person who tolerated my constant worrying and bitching. She understood and she was always cooking, which was great. But by Wednesday, my bad mood had escalated to the point that I didn't even want to hang out with Emily anymore.

So I sat on my couch, sulking all day. My brother and Callie had left around seven to go somewhere in Seattle until tomorrow night. I wasn't surprised; they were always going out lately and leaving me behind.

It was about eight thirty when my doorbell rang. I threw it open in excitement. "Jared!" I exclaimed, throwing myself at him. His warm arms held me eagerly and I reached up to hold his face, drinking in his features. It had been too long.

"Hey baby." He breathed, kissing my head and inhaling. "You smell so good. I miss you so damn much."

I shoved him in the house eagerly and shut the door. "You came at the right time. We have the house to ourselves tonight."

He grinned at me. "I have all night off too. Jake's taking the morning off tomorrow so he let us off the hook for the night and he's going to howl for us if we're needed." I sat next to him on the couch, exuberant. "So…? What should we do?"

Nerves struck my stomach. We were all alone… "How about a snack, are you hungry? I could pop some popcorn."

"That sounds lovely, Kim."

"Okay." I murmured. "W-wait here." I put the popcorn in the microwave and ran upstairs to brush my teeth and put on deodorant. Not trying to make any assumptions, but…

The microwave beeped and I ran back downstairs, pulled it out and poured it into a bowl. When I entered the living room, Jared was on his cell phone. "Now? Seriously? Didn't you just say we had the night off?" He groaned. "Oh come on! Can't it wait?"

"Jared, what's wrong?" I whispered.

"Kim, baby…" He trailed off, eyes downcast. "I am so sorry…"

I put the popcorn down on the table. "You're leaving again." I accused.

"I swear, I will be right back. An hour at the most okay? If I'm not back by ten, you can hate me forever." He said, jumping up on his feet. "It's just a quick meeting. Jake wants to re-evaluate our strategies."

"And you promise you'll be back by ten?"

"Yes, I promise! Oh Kim, you're honestly the best girlfriend ever. I will make this horrible week up to you, I swear." He rushed out the door and shut it behind him while I stood staring at it.

Yep, I hate werewolves.

I flicked on the TV and drowned my sorrows in a sappy movie and a bowl of popcorn. Thirty minutes later, there was a pounding on my door.

Okay, it's definitely not Jared. It actually kind of sounds like Paul when he's pissed. I stood at the door, trying to peer through the crack. "Paul, if that's you I'm not opening the door until you promise you won't hurt me."

"Kim, let me in right now." A gruff voice responded.

"Quil?" I gasped, swinging open the door. He looked like he had grown at least a few inches if not more, and his hands were clenched into fists. The rational part of my brain was telling me to back the hell up. But the stupid part of my brain, the one that usually wins, stepped forward and put her hands on his face. "Are you okay?"

He flinched. "Don't touch me!" He growled and I finally decided to step back. "What did you do to me?"

"What are you talking about? I haven't talked to you in days."

"Don't give me that _shit!_" He roared and I flinched and kept backing up towards the back door. "What did _they_ do? Look at me! What did Sam do to me!?"

I shook my head. "This isn't Sam's fault, Quil. Just calm down and relax, let me explain."

"Bullshit this isn't Sam's fault! Look at what's happening. I'm taller, I'm bigger, I'm angrier. I'm just like him! Just like Jared, Paul, Embry and Jacob! He's gotten to me hasn't he? I'm next? Oh my God, I'm next." His voice had quieted and he wasn't yelling, but his fists had uncurled and turned into a shaking mess. "Tell me what's happening." He whispered.

His head shot up to look me in the eyes and I cowered, inching backwards even more. "Quil, please don't come any closer!" I cried. "Stay back."

"Why are you afraid of me, Kim?" He asked. "Is it because you know exactly what they've done to me? I bet you're in on it. Jared has you brainwashed now huh? Well, now that I know, I'll be damned if I ever let you go near Summer ever again!"

Shit, this is not good. "Please calm down." I whispered again. If I couldn't get him to relax, I had no idea what was going to happen to me. "We can talk about this if you just relax."

"Talk?" He asked, a tremor running down his spine. I shivered along with him. "I don't want to fucking talk! I want this shit to go away!"

I shook my head. "It's not just going to go away Quil." I murmured sadly. "You're in this for life, just like the rest of us."

Yeah, that was obviously the wrong this for me to say. His hands shook, and I heard him snarl and I knew exactly what was happening. Once the claws appeared, I turned and ran out the door, hopping over the fence and booking it into the trees, only turning back to watch a massive chocolate brown wolf explode out of the back wall of my house.

I screamed and kept running into the pitch black woods. I knew it was stupid, I knew that no one was on patrol at the moment and that there was a rogue vampire running around, but at that moment I would rather chance meeting a vampire than getting torn apart by wolf-Quil.

So I just kept running. And eventually, there was no one following me. And then I realized it was cold, it was dark and I was lost.

Shit, shit, shit, I was going to get eaten. I was going to be a late night snack, and I was going to die. I felt tears prick in my eyes and I rubbed my shoulders. _Do not cry Kim, you're a big girl. _I resisted the urge to sink to my knees, curl up in a ball and cry and decided that my best bet of escaping my death was to go back in the direction that I came from.

Too bad I had no idea which way that was. Letting out a groan, I picked a random direction and started trudging. _It's okay Kim, Jared promised he would be back soon. He'll know something is up when he sees the gaping hole in your house._

Okay, trying to reassure myself wasn't working. How the hell was I supposed to explain that to my brother? _Oh yeah an angry werewolf just pulverised the shit out of our house. No big deal or anything._ Either way, I'm so dead.

I shivered, trying to warm myself by rubbing my arms again. I don't remember how long I'd been walking for, but I was cold and tired. Was I ever going to find a way out of the woods? I think I've been walking in circles.

_Rustle, rustle._

I froze in place, not breathing. I heard it again. "Jared?" I whispered. Nothing. "Jared?" I called again a little louder. The rustle started up again and I heard something move, too close for comfort.

So I did what I thought was best. I screamed and ran as fast as I could. And then I ran into something hard. I screamed again. "Don't eat me!" I cried, tears coming to my eyes. "Please don't eat me!"

"Kim, relax! Kim, Kim, Kim!"

I stopped struggling. "Paul?" I whispered, out of breath. "Oh my God, it's really you." I threw myself into his warm chest, finally able to breathe right.

"Holy crap, you're freezing!" He exclaimed, wrapping his huge arms around me and rubbing my arms. "How long have you been out here? Do you know how dangerous it is?"

"Quil phased." I breathed.

"I know, Sam is with him right now." He said with a frown evident in his voice. "But that still doesn't answer my question. Why were you in the woods?"

"He came over." I whispered, trying to stay cuddled in Paul's warm arms while walking. "He started yelling at me and accusing me of working with Sam and drugging him. He phased and I bolted it for the woods after he destroyed the back of my house."

"Well, it's better than what we thought happened. Jared thought the vampire had kidnapped you. He's probably still pacing around your house having a heart attack. I told him I'd go out and search for you so he could wait there in case you came back. And don't worry about the wall. Sam will pay to have that fixed. The council has a damage fund." He laughed suddenly. "Although I think I've used up at least half of it."

"You and your temper." I chuckled nervously, still shaken but starting to relax. "I heard you almost attacked Bella Swan."

"Yeah well, I heard you helped Jacob betray the Tribe." He countered, flicking my forehead. I rubbed it sheepishly. "You're lucky that I like you."

"Sometimes I'm not so sure. I mean, if you didn't like me you wouldn't be around to pester me all the time." I grumbled as he finally, _finally_, led me out of the trees. My house had never looked so welcoming, even with a gaping hole in the back. "Jared!" I cried, flinging Paul's arm off of me and running towards the distraught looking teenager on my back porch.

His head shot up and his face melted into a relieved look. "Kim!" He cried as I flung myself into his arms. "Don't ever run off like that again! I thought you'd been kidnapped and that I'd lost you forever."

"Yeah okay, next time I'll just let Quil eat me." I teased, snuggling my head into his shoulder. "How is he, anyway?"

"He's a bit shaken up… But he's been talking to Embry and I think he's almost ecstatic that he has his friends back." Jared said, stroking my hair. "But he's not going to be very ecstatic when I rip his limbs off."

"You should really cut the kid a break." Paul commented as he surveyed the damaged of my house. "We all know what it was like when we first phased."

"Yeah, well he didn't just try to attack your imprint." Jared muttered, holding me tighter. I sighed happily in his arms. "You can go now, Paul."

"Oh I see how it is." He muttered. "Save the girl, get no thanks and then get kicked out. I see."

Jared rolled his eyes, but I jumped from his hold and threw my arms around Paul's neck, truly grateful. "Thank you very much for finding me in the woods. I owe you big time." And then I placed a big, sloppy kiss on his cheek. "I love you Paul." I crooned sweetly.

Jared ripped a snarl from his mouth and Paul set me on my feet and wiped his cheek. "Gross. I'm out of here." He muttered, turning around and stalking into the woods. I laughed happily and turned back to Jared, suddenly realizing the extent of my exhaustion.

"Come on, Kim. Let's get you to bed." Jared murmured, sweeping me up easily into his arms.

I yawned. "Will you stay with me?"

"Do you really think I'm going to let you out of my sight after what just happened?" He said, leading me upstairs into my room. He tucked me into bed and kissed my head. "Sleep, beautiful. I'm going to call Sam and let him know about the damage and it'll be fixed before your brother gets back."

I shook my head and grabbed his arm, dragging him into bed with me. "That can wait." I whispered. "I want you here with me while I fall asleep."

I closed my eyes and let the feeling of his warm fingers stroking my hair lull me off to sleep. It was the end of a hectic day, and the beginning of something even more hectic. We had no idea what tomorrow would bring.


	16. Sitting Ducks

**A/N: Okay, here we go!**

I was aroused for my warm, comfortable sleep by Jared's large body shifting out of bed and failing miserably to be quiet, like he was hoping. "Where are you going?" I rasped, and then sat up and cleared my throat.

"I have to go baby, I've got to start my patrol."

"It's five thirty in the morning." I groaned.

He chuckled. "Yeah, I feel the same way but that's what I get for having the night off. Jake wants to get some sleep before his morning with _Bella_." He kissed me on the forehead. "Go back to sleep. The people working on your house won't be here for about another hour. I'll see you later this evening."

I watched him jog into the woods from my window quietly and stretched my arms upwards. I was wide awake now, so I decided to get up and start my day.

After I showered and ate breakfast, the men that Sam had called arrived and apparently the wall wasn't as bad as I had thought. Maybe it was just because I was in a panic, but I swore it should have taken them longer than two hours to fix it. Nevertheless, I thanked them endlessly because the wall looked like nothing had ever happened to it and bid them on their way.

And then it was nine, and just as I was debating on what I should do, my doorbell rang.

I opened it hesitantly, remembering what had happened the last time someone knocked on my door when I wasn't expecting them. But my worries were put at ease, it was just Sam. He wasn't going to hurt me.

He smiled at me. "Good morning, Kim. How are you?"

"I'm great. Thanks for paying for the wall, it looks good as new."

"Well, it's nice being able to fix damage that hasn't been made by Paul. We thought we were going to have to start calling it the Paul Fund." I laughed along with him, silently wondering what he was doing here. "I'm here to escort you back to my place." He said, answering my unspoken question.

I raised my eyebrows. "Okay, what for?"

"We caught wind of the vampire and she's extremely close. Jared has insisted that I get you out of the house and put you with Emily so we know where both of you are. Quil is there too, he'll protect you both."

I was nervous about seeing Quil again, but I didn't want to argue with Sam or frankly, be alone when there was a vampire on the loose. So I followed him into his big black truck and into his house, where he kissed Emily and told us to stay put. And then he was gone.

Emily wrapped me up in a hug. "How are you feeling? I heard you were out in the cold last night. You're not sick now are you? Do you have a fever?"

"No Emily, I'm not sick but thank you for asking."

"I'm going to make you a cup of tea anyway, just in case." She insisted, turning on the kettle.

I turned my attention to Quil, who was staring at the table, trying to keep himself in check. He looked like he couldn't decide whether or not to be happy or pissed. I sat down next to him. "Hey, Quil…"

He looked up and frowned. "I almost killed you." He said outright.

I looked at him for a minute and nodded. "Yep."

"I can't decide whether this is the coolest thing that has ever happened to me or the worst. I'm sorry I almost attacked you. Oh, and I'm sorry for accusing you." He sent me a smile that reminded me of his old self… Back when we were good friends. "I broke up with Summer."

I frowned. "How did she take it?"

"Not too good. She accused me of being in a cult. And then she asked me if we all gang rape you, and if that's why you're involved." He chuckled once without humor and I cringed. "Yeah, she's pissed. But upset more than anything."

"And how are you handling it?"

"Other than ripping apart your wall, I've done pretty well."

"I meant about Summer."

He frowned. "I feel horrible. I mean she was the only one who was there for me before when Jake and Embry left me. But, I think I'll be able to get over it. I don't want to involve her in this insanity and besides, if I didn't imprint, it's not meant to be." I saw him nod to himself, like he was reassuring himself that his reasoning made sense.

My uneasiness about being around him melted away and I got up to hug him. "Don't worry, Quil." I told him. "You will find a girl that's perfect for you."

Emily handed me my warm cup of tea and I thanked her before sipping on it. It had a nice lemony flavor to it and I relaxed a little bit.

I wasn't sure how much time had passed between us chatting and Quil eating, but at one point, Emily's house phone started to ring. I watched her face drop when she picked it up. "Oh no, is it serious?" She asked worriedly. Quil and I both perked up. "Okay… No of course not. I'll be right there."

"Emily what's wrong?" Quil asked in a businesslike tone.

"Harry Clearwater had a heart attack." She whispered and my face dropped. Oh no, poor Seth… Poor Leah. I thought of Sue, who had been there for me when my father died and I frowned. "I have to go to the hospital right now."

"I'm coming with you." I said and she nodded.

"I'll go tell the others what's going on." Quil said and the three of us rushed out the door as fast as possible.

When we got to the hospital, Emily immediately ran to Sue's side and wrapped her up in a hug. I trailed along slowly behind her, to where her little baby-faced son Seth was sitting. But then I noticed he didn't look so baby-faced anymore. He was started to look just like everyone else and his hands were trembling.

He was only fourteen…

I sat down next to him. "Hey, Seth."

"Oh hi Kim." He mumbled. The only reason we knew each other was because our fathers used to be really close friends. "I haven't seen you around in a while."

He was making small talk. I did the same thing when my father died. "Oh, Seth I know exactly what you're going through." I whispered and I hugged him. He started crying and my heart broke in two.

"Kim, I have to tell you something. You have to promise you won't think I'm crazy okay?" He said desperately. "My dad's heart attack… It happened because of Leah."

I furrowed my brows at him. "Your sister? What did she do?"

He looked me right in the eyes, begging me to believe him. "She turned into a wolf."

I shot up out of my seat and ran over to where Emily was standing, dragging her away. I couldn't care less than I was being rude. She looked at my panicked eyes. "What happened?"

"We need to get in contact with the guys. Leah's a werewolf."

She let out a little laugh. "That's ridiculous. I know the stories upside down and there is nothing in there about female wolves." I stared at her, desperately and she stopped laughing. "You're serious."

My eyes frantically searched around the room for someone, anyone, who would understand. I saw Billy and I ran over to him. "Billy, we have a problem."

* * *

It wasn't Jared that showed up at the hospital, much to my dismay. It was Paul and Quil. Quil made his way over to where his old, wisp of a grandfather was sitting and Paul came over immediately to me. "Where are the rest of them?" I asked.

"Out trying to find Leah and calm her down. Well, except Sam and Jacob. The leech lover decided that she was going to jump of a cliff _for fun_ and nearly kill herself. Not to mention that she did this the exact time that the vampire was swimming in the water." He rolled his eyes in irritation. "Anyway, I need to talk to Seth."

"Let me come with you." I said immediately. Sending _Paul_ over to talk to Seth about his sister and werewolves? That's definitely not smart. I followed him over to where Seth was and took his trembling hand. He looked up, red eyes and attempted to smile. "We need to talk to you about something really important."

"What you saw wasn't your brain playing tricks on you." Paul said. "Your sister actually did morph into a giant hairy wolf. I do too, and so do Sam Uley, Embry Call, Jared Cameron, Quil Ateara and Jacob Black."

"But… How?" Seth mumbled.

"Genetics, I guess. All the legends are true. All those silly superstitious tales that you've probably laughed at since you were a little boy are all true."

"But Leah? I don't remember anything about females being able to turn into wolves."

"Well," Paul chuckled. "That is something we're still trying to figure out."

Seth hung his head and I put my hand on his shoulder as Paul wandered off to talk to one of the Elders. "Seth, I don't know if I'm supposed to be telling you this, but I don't want to you to be taken by surprise okay?" I mumbled, trying to keep my voice down. "There is a really big chance that you…"

"Kim…" Emily whispered, coming up beside me. "Can you come with me? Sue needs to talk to Seth."

I looked up and Emily had tears in her eyes. I could see Sue behind her, trying to stand tall. "Oh no…" I whispered, taking Emily's hands and walking away with her. We watched silently from the other side of the waiting room, next to Sam who had gotten here just in time to say goodbye, as Seth lost it and ran out of the hospital, body trembling.

Sam turned to us. "We have to go after him and help out." He said regretfully. "Emily, Kim, will you guys stay here with Sue until we get this figured out?" We both nodded and he kissed us both on the head before speeding out behind Quil and Paul.

Emily immediately rushed over to Sue, hugging her and trying to console her but I took a moment to collapse into a chair for a breather, and stopped to think. Three more werewolves in a matter of two days…

I don't know how long I sat there waiting for Emily, feeling like an intruder, but eventually everyone had left and she was sitting next to me. "Come on Kim, let's go back to my house and wait for the boys to get back."

Back at her house, we found Quil sitting alone. "I'm not much help when it comes to those two." He shrugged. "I'm not even a day old. I still don't know what's going on."

And then two oversized wolves burst through the door. "The Cullen's are back." Sam said.

Emily and I looked at each other quickly. "All of them?" She asked, rushing to his side.

"No." Jacob spat bitterly. "Well, I don't know. I don't even know if it's them or if she's even alive!" He looked about ready to pull out all of his hair. "Can I borrow your phone please?" He asked Emily, stiffly polite.

I watched him worriedly as he dialed her number. For his sake, I hoped she wasn't dead. I knew when she picked up, because his eyes drooped with relief. "No, it's me." He said stiffly. "Just making sure you're still alive." I heard her saying something, although I only heard a mumbling sound when he cut her off. "Yeah, I got it." And then he slammed down the phone. "It's the Cullen's. I don't know who, I don't know how many. But they're back."

Sam nodded to him. "Well, this changes everything. We can't go on their land anymore, and we can't protect her anywhere except La Push anymore. We need to go tell the others."

"Wait!" Emily cried, grabbing on to Sam's arm before he rushed out the door. "How is she? Leah, I mean. And Seth?"

He looked at her softly. "Seth is doing as well as expected. He's with their mother right now. As for Leah, well, we're working on her. Quil, Jacob, let's go."

And the three of them charged out the door again, leaving Emily and I sitting around again, waiting for their return.

**A/N: Sorry that these are getting so short. I'm just trying to put the events in where they make sense and not shoving them all together in one chapter. Don't worry, the length will grow once we get over this hump of events and get back to some K/J loving.**


	17. AN: Apology

**A/N: I know, I know. I'm a horrible person for saying this was going to be a QUICK break and I still haven't updated but I am a little bit STUCK on the next chapter. I have the future planned out perfectly but I'm still stuck on how to get there. And school is keeping me busy and i can only usually write on the weekends and if I get the chance to do that, I'm lucky. But as a treat, here's a little sneak peek at what's to come for Jared and Kim.**

"_You can't leave…You promised that you were staying. You said you wouldn't leave."_

_I shook my head, staring at the ground and trying my best not to cry. I wouldn't cry anymore, not for him. "I can't even look at you anymore."_

* * *

_ watched them dancing and he leaned down to whisper something in her ear. Her whole face lit up and she stood on her toes to kiss his lips and the emptiness in my heart panged a little more._

_The gnawing feeling in my gut started again, and the realization of what I had given up was staring me in the face._

* * *

_Jared took my hand and twirled me around. "You look absolutely beautiful tonight. I mean, you looked beautiful every day as far I can remember but tonight you're just wow." I held my hand stiffly on his shoulder as we moved back and forth, but didn't respond. I was having a hard enough time being back here as it was. "You seem really tense." He mentioned._

_I bit my lip and looked at our feet, keeping in step with each other almost naturally. I hated it, the way that my body moved with his. "I don't like being here." I said honestly._

"_Kim…" He whispered. "I know that I hurt you, but it's been a really long time and I miss you so much. When Paul told me that you were coming back, I tried not to be optimistic but now, having you here in my arms, I can't swallow my hope anymore."_

_I knew where he was going and I quickly shook my head. "Don't."_

"_Please. Please let me fix this."_

_The tears and the anger that I had been holding in flooded out. "Don't! Okay?" I cried, stepping out of his hold. "I don't want to hear it. I didn't come back for you!" I stepped out of my giant heels and turned my back towards him, starting to run out of the church._

"_I can't live without you, Kim!" He called to my retreating form._

_I stopped short of the doors, fully aware that everyone was staring at me. I caught eyes with Paul for a quick moment and his eyes were also pleading, begging with me. But I just couldn't. "You broke my heart." I whispered._

_Knowing that he heard me, I turned and let the doors shut behind me._


	18. The Start of An Evolution

**A/N: Hi, yes, I'm alive and I'm sorry! I know it's been almost a year! Hopefully you guys still love me. I just really missed Kim/Jared and Paul of course and I kicked this chapter out based on that. Btw I changed the story to M… We all know what that means. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. I'll put a little star next to the part that some people might not want to read.**

_Knock, knock, knock._

My head shot up and I ran to the door in excitement. "Coming!" I called before I threw the door open. My excited grin fell flat. "Oh, it's you."

"Oh it's you." Paul mocked, stepping around me into the house. "I'm starving, what do you have to eat?"

Groaning, I followed him into the kitchen, smacking at his arms as he went through the fridge and, seemingly disappointed, started on the cupboards. "Leave my food alone. What the hell are you even doing here?" I grumbled. I was expecting Jared, who had been basically MIA for the last couple of days, even more so than the last few weeks.

"I'm hungry." He stated.

I rolled my eyes. "Do I look like Emily? Go over there. I'm sure she'll feed you."

Paul scrunched up his nose. "And see Leah or Jacob? Ugh, no thanks."

"Be nice. They're both going through a rough time. And besides, you're not exactly the most pleasant person to be around, Paul. Pot and kettle."

He put his hands over his chest and looked at me with a hurt expression. "When did you get so mean Kim?"

"Around the time I started hanging around you." I joked lightly, my bad mood starting to wash away. I never thought I would have said this six months ago, but spending time with Paul was one of my favorite things to do. "So are you not on patrol today?"

"Nah I'm free until later tonight, thank god. So we can hang out." He said cheerfully, wrapping an arm around my shoulder. "What do you want to do? I think Emily is having a barbecue tonight. Her sister and her kids are coming down for the weekend and she wants to do something fun. Want to head over early?"

I sighed, leaning into his embrace for a second before shrugging. "Obviously I have nothing better to do than hang out with you idiots."

"Deny it all you want, Kim. But you love us."

"Yeah, yeah," I waved my hand at him as we headed out the door. "You're a bunch of idiots but you're my idiots. All of you."

* * *

Emily squealed when I came in the house. She actually squealed like a little girl. "Kim! I'm so happy to see you!" She gushed, wrapping me up in a tight hug. "I haven't seen you around at all lately. You haven't been sulking have you? Heaven knows one sulker is enough." She eyed Jacob pointedly who was across the room.

I gave her a small smile. "I haven't been sulking…" I trailed off. "Much." I added honestly.

Paul rolled his eyes. "You know how they get when they're apart." He said to Emily, who had only half-heartedly acknowledged his presence. "And it's nice to see you too, Em."

"There are muffins in the kitchen, Paul. Try to be civil and not shove them all in your mouth at once, please. My sister, brother-in-law and my nieces are around here somewhere and I'm sure they would appreciate you acting like a normal _human_ being." She emphasized the human. Paul kissed my head, a surprisingly familiar gesture and made his way through the house. "You, Jake and Embry are on relief in two hours!" She called after him.

I smiled, feeling completely at ease and wondering why it had taken me so long to come back over here. Finding room next to Jake, who was sitting in the corner alone wasn't hard because everyone was purposely steering clear. "Hey there buddy." I said softly.

He looked at me with a cloudy frown on his face. "She hasn't come to see me yet. She hasn't even tried. She sent me a bunch of stupid letters. Or what if she has tried and that stupid leech isn't letting her? God I hate that arrogant, filthy bloodsucker."

I sighed. Here we go. "If you want to see her so bad, why don't you just go over there and see her? No one's holding _you_ captive."

"I can't. I can't let her know that this is affecting me and that he won. I have to stay cool." Despite myself, after he said that I let out a snort that I tried to muffle embarrassingly. "What?" He asked.

I put my hand on his arm gently. "Jake, the last thing that you're doing is staying cool. Everyone can tell, even if they couldn't read your mind already, that you're hurting. You need to go talk to her and get some closure."

He grunted. "I guess." And that was the extent of our conversation. We sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes before a young girl came screaming down the hall, her dark brown pigtails flying behind her as she halted in front of us.

"Hi!" She piped up, brown eyes sparkling. "I Claire!"

I smiled at her. "Hi Claire, I'm Kim. How old are you?"

She held out five small, pudgy fingers and said, "Two!" Holding back a laugh, I smiled in amusement as she held out a Barbie doll. "Wanna play?"

"Sure, why not?" I said. It beats sulking around with Mr. Grumpy Pants.

She took me over to the corner of the room where all of her dolls were spread out, gave me a specific doll with a specific outfit and yelled at me every time I did or said something she didn't like. It took almost everything I had not to laugh, but I was scared of upsetting her so I just bit the inside of my lip and nodded along with her.

Emily checked in on us a few times, as did her mother Annie, to make sure that she wasn't being a bother but I assured them that I was quite content hanging out with her and her six year old sister Danni.

I wasn't even sure how much time had passed, but I couldn't contain my excitement when I heard the door open. Scrambling to my feet, I caught a glimpse of Jared coming through the door and I flung myself at him. His arms caught me without missing a beat, like he expected me, and he lifted me into his arms, pressing his nose against mine. "Hi there pretty girl." He murmured. "I've missed you."

I pressed a kiss to his lips before he set me on my feet. "You have no idea how happy I am to see you." I sighed happily and then as an afterthought, smacked him on the arm. "That's for leaving me with only Paul to hang out with these last few weeks. I can feel my IQ dropping."

"Hey!" Paul called, flicking the back of my head as he passed by me on his way to patrol. Jared gave him a deep glare, but I just shook my head and laughed, leaning into his embrace.

Suddenly, someone tapped my legs. "Don't you wanna play?" Claire asked me in a small voice.

Feeling guilty, I looked down at her softly. "I'll play with you in a little bit okay Claire? How about you ask one of them?" I pointed to the group of guys that were left in the house.

Determined, she grabbed one of her Barbie's and tugged on Quil's pant leg. He didn't notice her at first but she tugged harder. "Hello." She said, when he finally noticed her, and held out her doll. "Wanna play?"

When he didn't answer her, I went over and kicked him. "Don't be rude, Quil. She's only two." I whispered. After her didn't respond to me I peered at him and I realized he was staring at the little girl with wide eyes and an open mouth. I looked at Claire, standing in all of her innocence and then back to Quil. "Oh no…" I whispered.

Finally, he seemed to wake up and bent down to her level. "Hi honey, what's your name?" He asked softly, completely ignoring my presence.

She smiled proudly. "Claire!"

He smiled adoringly at her. "What a beautiful name. My name is Quil."

She grabbed his hand and tugged him with her. "Play with me Qwiw." She demanded. And without any hesitation, he followed.

After I got over my initial shock, I realized the seriousness of what had just happened. "Emily!" I called frantically.

* * *

The house had quieted down considerably at nine. Danni had gone to bed, the Clearwater's had gone home and Emily and Sam had taken Claire's parents outside to talk. I was sitting on the loveseat draped across Jared with my head resting on the arm of the couch. He was absentmindedly stroking my hair as he watched Quil silently.

The two year old had fallen asleep in his lap, plump pink lips in a circle and breathing deeply. Quil couldn't take his eyes off of her. "You alright buddy?" Jared asked him quietly.

"I feel…" He trailed off. "Brand new. I feel like I'm a whole new person now. This little girl, Claire, she defines me. I just want to keep her safe."

"Congrats bro, I'm really happy for you. And I mean it." Jared said sincerely.

The whole thing was kind of weird. Emily had freaked out and basically insinuated that Quil was some sort of child molester until Sam and Quil really and truly explained his feelings to her. The situation had proved Sam's previous theory that we imprint to mate completely wrong.

So not only was the pack baffled by this new development, Sam and Emily had to make the decision to tell Claire's parents about the imprint, rather than risk them accusing Quil of some pretty horrible things. And poor Quil had to deal with imprinting on a two year old.

Looking at him in this moment though, with the adoration that he had in his eyes for her, it didn't seem like he was going to have any trouble.

Emily peered into the living room. "I don't mean to kick you guys out but…" She trailed off, looking at Jared and I. We nodded in understanding and I kissed Quil's cheek and wished him luck before we headed out.

The nights were finally getting warmer now that it was April, but the rain was getting worse so we were lucky that we caught a night that it wasn't raining. "How about we walk?" Jared proposed, grabbing my hand. I agreed, happy that I had some time to spend with him and he tugged me close enough that he could wrap his big, warm arm around me. I appreciated not only the warmth that it gave me, but the smell that surrounded me. "God I've missed you." He muttered.

I smiled. "Of course the one night we get to see each other, something else has to happen." I said with laughter in my voice. "How is the hunt going for-"

"Don't." He quickly cut me off. "I don't want to talk about her or any other bloodsuckers tonight. I just want to spend some much needed time with my favorite girl in the world." He kissed the top of my head and I blushed in the dark, sighing happily. There was nothing I loved more than being with Jared.

We strolled together comfortably until we reached my house, immersed in darkness. "Alright well, this is me." I murmured.

"Isn't there anyone home tonight?" He asked with his eyebrows pinched together. I shook my head and Jared sighed heavily. "I don't like the idea of you being alone all night."

Without giving myself a chance to talk myself out of it, I blurted out, "Stay with me tonight."

Suddenly, I felt his lips on mine and my knees went weak. "I was hoping you would say that." He whispered. Without removing his forehead from mine, he reached over and unlocked the door. "Let's go inside."

I surveyed the house for a minute, satisfied with the way it looked and praying that I remembered to pick my dirty clothes up from this morning before I had left with Paul. "I have an extra toothbrush in the bathroom upstairs for you. Unfortunately I don't have any clothes in the house that would fit you. Are you okay to sleep in what you're wearing?" I asked.

He gave me an adorable smile. "I'm good Kim, just relax. What do you want to do before bed? We could pop some popcorn and watch a movie? It's still pretty early."

Red blush stained my cheeks and I looked down at the floor nervously. "I was actually um, hoping we could go to bed now."

He gave me a worried look and tucked a piece of hair behind my ear. "Sure baby, are you tired? Come on, let's go upstairs and get ready." I let him lead me upstairs, knowing that he didn't understand what I meant, but I kept silent.

While Jared brushed his teeth in the bathroom, I twiddled around the bedroom nervously, making sure that I was wearing my matching set of black lace panties under my tiny shorts and tank top. Sleeping with Jared always made me sweat so I always made sure to wear as little clothes as possible. I put on deodorant just in case, swept my hair up into a neat ponytail and gave myself a silent pep talk in the mirror before I went to join Jared in brushing my teeth.

When I was done, I made my way back into my room, closing and locking the door behind me just in case. He was sitting cross legged on top of the comforter, watching me and I gave him a timid smile before turning off the lights and hopping onto the bed next to him.

I sat nervously for a moment, trying to swallow away the butterflies in my stomach. "Kim?" Jared murmured. "Are you alright?"

***Without saying anything, I grabbed his face and kissed him. It wasn't our normal, gentle kiss. I shoved my tongue roughly in his mouth and swung my leg over so that I was straddling his lap. He kissed me back immediately, putting his hot hands underneath my shirt to grab my hips and grind me into the growing bulge in his lap. Without realizing it, I moaned into his mouth at the contact and he growled, flipping me so that I was on my back in a blink and then attacking my mouth again with his.

I hitched my leg over his waist and grabbed at his back, pressing him closer to my aching body. "Take off your shirt." I whispered.

In a heartbeat, he had whipped it off and hesitantly, I peeled mine off after, feeling exposed in just my bra. Jared's eyes darkened with lust and he started to kiss around my chest.

As he nipped at my skin, the only thing that I could think of was that his hands were so hot and they made my body tremble and before I knew it, I had taken off my shorts and Jared was staring at me with wide eyes. "Kim, what are you doing?" He asked in astonishment.

His hand was resting on my hip and I grabbed his wrist and slowly started to guide it inside my panties. The warmth of his large fingers at my core made me shiver and I pressed his hand harder into it. "It's okay." I said breathlessly. "I want to. It's okay."

"Are you sure?" He muttered. When I nodded, he pinned the hand that was guiding his above my head and started to work his fingers in and out of my core. "Fuck Kim, you're soaked. I fucking love it." He growled into my ear before he slowly bit my earlobe.

I gasped as his large thumb came up to rub circles around my clit and I found myself unconsciously groaning and bucking my hips upwards. "Oh my god." I cried in shock, unable to form a coherent thought about how good I was feeling.

If Jared was this good with his fingers…

The thought made me bite my lip and moan out again. His fingers were rubbing and moving faster and I could feel him rubbing his hard on against my leg as he continuously pumped his fingers inside of me and moaned with me. As he got faster, this feeling deep in my stomach started to grow and build and all of a sudden, it exploded all up my body and I found myself screaming out Jared's name.

Not moaning, not whispering, _screaming._

"_Fuck!_" He hissed and as I came down from my high, he came down from his too. I realized what had just happened and I tried to catch my breath. Not only did I have my first orgasm, I made Jared come in his pants. We laid there for a minute before he sat up. "I need to clean off." He murmured, making his way to the bathroom. ***

After I finally got my thoughts in order, my cheeks flushed in embarrassment and I hid underneath my pillow. Oh my god, I'm an animal. I can't believe I just did that. Who am I?

After a minute, Jared came out and put a hand on my leg. "Kim? Are you okay?" When I didn't respond, he sighed. "Please don't be embarrassed…"

"Don't be embarrassed? I jumped you like a porn star." I muttered. "I don't know what got into me."

Jared smirked. "Other than my fingers?" I sat up and shot him a glare. "Sorry, kidding… Kim that was the hottest thing I had ever seen. You never have to be embarrassed around me okay? And trust me, that was definitely not anything close to a porn star..." When i glared at him, he held his hands up. "Not like I've ever watched it or anything. Besides, it's nice to know that you're not the same shy, bookworm that you usually are in bed. "

My eyes widened. "Shut up! That's so not funny!" I cried, but I found myself smiling along with him, as usual.

He kissed me softly. "I love you, Kimberly Spencer. Nothing will ever change my mind about that. Now come here." He snuggled under the blankets and lifted up his arm so that I could snuggle up against his chest. "I think that's enough excitement for one night. Get some sleep sweetheart."

I closed my eyes and sighed happily. "I love you too, Jared."


End file.
